No Labels, no presidential candidate this year

Peter Weber, The Week US
·1 min read
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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Jon Huntsman (R) at No Labels event.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Jon Huntsman (R) at No Labels event.

What happened

The centrist group No Labels on Thursday abandoned its bid to run a presidential candidate in the 2024 election after some 30 prominent potential candidates declined to join its "unity ticket."

Who said what

"No Labels has always said we would only offer our ballot line to a ticket if we could identify candidates with a credible path to winning the White House," said the group's CEO, Nancy Jacobson. "No such candidates emerged." No Labels' effort was "doomed, dangerous and would divide the anti-Trump coalition," said Matt Bennett, vice president of the centrist Democratic group Third Way. "We are deeply relieved that everyone rejected their offer."

The commentary

Supporters of President Joe Biden had worried No Labels would siphon off votes in key battleground states and criticized the group's refusal to "disclose its donors or much about its decision-making," most of which "took place in secret," The Associated Press said.

What next?

No Labels cofounder Andy Bursky said he wouldn't rule out running a presidential candidate in 2028, saying the group has been "strengthened," not "beaten by this effort." The successful "no-holds-barred effort to kill a No Labels candidacy" this year may prove a "Pyrrhic" victory for Democrats, as the "rise of Robert F. Kennedy Jr." is shaping up to be "at least as big a threat" to Biden's reelection, said Jonathan Weisman at The New York Times.