Former NC Gov. Pat McCrory steps down as co-chair of centrist group No Labels

Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi
·2 min read
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Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has resigned from his position as national co-chair of the centrist group No Labels.

News of the Republican ex-governor’s resignation follows an announcement from the group Friday that it would move forward with a “Unity presidential ticket.” Details on who will be on that ticket were not provided in the group’s announcement.

But the reasons for McCrory’s departure are not yet known. Asked by The News & Observer about his reasoning, McCrory said, “it was time to leave and pursue other opportunities.”

The Wall Street Journal first broke the news on McCrory’s departure on Wednesday. It reported that McCrory declined to comment on his decision but noted that he had been traveling extensively on behalf of the organization and wanted to spend more time with his family.

No Labels, which has existed since 2010 and is known for its work in creating the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group in the U.S. House, last year jumped to the foreground when it started setting up state political organizations to get ballot access for a yet-unnamed third-party candidate.

It obtained official recognition as a political party in North Carolina in August, allowing voters across the state to register with it in addition to the Democratic, Republican, Green or Libertarian parties. The group has not yet qualified to appear on ballots in all 50 states.

No Labels has been teasing that they’d run a presidential candidate for months, to the chagrin of some, who say that it could pull votes away from the major party’s presidential nominees, Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican former President Donald Trump.

But No Labels has previously said that it would not field a presidential candidate in November unless it saw a viable path to victory. It touts itself on its website as a group that seeks “common sense solutions for all of Americans’‘ and that speaks “truth to partisanship”

It’s unclear who the group plans to put forward, and it did not immediately respond to a request from comment from The N&O on Thursday.