The centrist group No Labels announced Friday it would move forward with picking out candidates to challenge President Biden and Donald Trump in the November general election.
The organization had claimed it would not run a presidential and vice presidential ticket that did not have a real chance of winning the White House.
“Earlier today, I led a discussion with the 800 No Labels delegates from all 50 states. These citizen leaders have spent months discussing with one another the kind of leadership they want to see in the White House in 2024 … I wasn’t sure exactly where No Labels delegates would land today but they sent an unequivocal message: Keep going,” No Labels national convention chair Mike Rawlings said in a statement.
“They voted near unanimously to continue our 2024 project and to move immediately to identify candidates to serve on the Unity presidential ticket,” Rawlings added.
“Now that No Labels has received the go-ahead from our delegates, we’ll be accelerating our candidate outreach and announcing the process for how candidates will be selected for the Unity Ticket on Thursday, March 14.”
No Labels has been working to get ballot access in all 50 states and had been weighing former 2024 candidates like former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in its deliberations over who could be on the Republican portion of the bipartisan ticket.
The group has not publicly disclosed who is on its short list of possible candidates, and had stressed it was focusing on getting ballot access first.
Before dropping out of the GOP race Wednesday, Haley had ruled out a third-party bid, saying she’s a Republican — despite not immediately endorsing Trump.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who also suspended his campaign Wednesday, had previously ruled out a run with No Labels. Another potential candidate, outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), said last month he also would not make a third-party presidential bid.
“In poll after poll, two-thirds of American voters are unhappy with the choices they are likely to have in the 2024 presidential election. No Labels is working to give the American voters a better choice should they want it,” the group states on its website, arguing that “this moment is unlike any other time in modern U.S. political history” and could foster a successful third-party candidate.
Biden and Trump are already facing three major third-party candidates — independents Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as well as Jill Stein of the Green Party.
