No Labels scraps search for presidential candidate

The political group No Labels announced Thursday that it will not run a Unity candidate in 2024 as originally planned. The organization set up a presidential ticket selection committee last month, tasked with finding a moderate candidate with a viable path to victory. The White House hopeful would have to agree on a vice president from the opposite party. Founder and CEO Nancy Jacobson said in a statement, “No such candidates emerged, so the responsible course of action is for us to stand down.” Instead, Jacobson said the organization will promote civil dialogue in the upcoming months and host a summit after the election.

What was No Labels trying to do? The political group, which refers to itself as a social welfare organization rather than a national political party, raised tens of millions of dollars for the effort over the past several months. The group said it qualified as a political party on ballots in at least 21 states and insisted that widespread dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump created favorable conditions to run a third-party candidate. Democrats argued that any such candidate would spoil the election in favor of Trump by siphoning moderate votes from Biden. Several names were fielded this year: former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and even former ambassador to the UN and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley. All declined to run on the No Labels ticket.

Dig deeper: Listen to my interview with No Labels national co-chair Benjamin Chavis Jr. about how independents could decide the 2024 election.