Democrats are increasingly concerned about No Labels, the centrist group working to pitch an independent presidential candidate as an “insurance policy,” the group said, “in the event both major political parties nominate presidential candidates than the vast majority of Americans want.” not.” What kind of scenario, you ask, could this “insurance policy” trigger? And could No Labels’ third-party candidate – whoever that might be – spoil the 2024 election at a particularly dangerous moment for democracy?
Questions like these have understandably worried Democrats about the prospects they end up with donald trump back in the white house. That’s perhaps why the Democratic Party in Arizona — a swing state — is critical Joe BidenVictory for No Labels in 2020 and likely a major battleground in 2024 – bids to revoke recognition of No Labels as a political party, the Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes granted to the organization in early March. According to the lawsuit first filed by the Washington Post On Thursday, Fontes accepted petitions for signatures for No Labels that did not appear to meet federal requirements for political parties. No Labels has slammed Democrats over the move, calling the lawsuit “undemocratic.”
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“Next time you hear this crowd talking about protecting democracy,” says No Labels Chief Strategist Ryan Clancy told the post“Remember, what they’re really doing is protecting their territory.”
But Democrats, for their part, have fired back that the organization “does not follow the rules for recognizing political parties” and should not stand for election in 2024. “Arizonanes deserve better,” said the spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party Morgan Dick told the post“And voters deserve to know who is behind this shadowy organization and what potentially nefarious agenda it is pushing.”
No Labels—founded in 2010 by former Democratic fundraisers Nancy Jacobson and former Republican congressman Tom Davis– Billed himself as an advocate for bipartisan solutions and helped form the Problem Solvers Caucus on Capitol Hill. However progressive congressman Markus Pocan, a former member, has accused the group of being less bipartisan and more of a “centrist corporate organization working against Democrats with dark, anonymous money to advance special-interest power.” By early March, the group gained recognition as Arizona’s fourth officially recognized political party, allowing it to offer candidates for federal, state, and legislative races in 2024. It’s unclear who those candidates will be, but there is some speculation that Senator Kyrsten Sinema— a corporate-minded Democrat who has repeatedly bucked her party’s agenda — could run on the no-labels ticket in her re-election bid, HuffPost reported.
Regarding the presidential race, No Labels confirmed in a statement earlier this month that it would consider backing an independent candidate to give “the center of this country … a voice and a seat at the table.” This declaration – signed by the national co-chairs Joe Lieberman, Benjamin ChavisAnd Pat McCrory— insisted an independent would siphon an equal number of voters from Democrats and Republicans, promising that No Labels “has no interest in fueling a spoiler candidate.” But a memo from think tank Third Way and reported by Politico earlier this month suggested that an independent would do just that. In any case, a third-party candidate almost certainly wouldn’t win, despite No Labels’ claims, and could hurt Biden — especially in hotly contested states like Arizona, where he won by just a fraction of a percent last time out. “No Labels is committed to fielding a candidate who, whether intentional or not, will provide a significant boost to Republicans — and a major obstacle to Biden,” Third Way said in a memo. “As a result, they will make it much more likely – if not certain – that Donald Trump will return to the White House.”
“Nobody knows how real” the possibility of Trump’s return is, a National Democratic strategist told Politico earlier this month.
