No Labels Expected To Launch Third-Party Bid: Report

Third-party centrist group No Labels will reportedly launch a 2024 presidential campaign on Friday, appealing to voters unhappy with both President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump.

Delegates of No Labels, a bipartisan group with the mantra “Not Left. Not Right. Forward,” will meet virtually on Friday and are expected to vote in favor of a presidential bid, sources familiar with the party’s internal deliberations told the Associated Press. While its candidates for president and vice president will not be announced this week, No Labels is set to roll out a detailed procedure next week for candidate selection. 

The news follows Trump and Biden’s sweeping victories in Tuesday’s primary elections, which all but confirmed the pair as the nominees for their respective parties. No Labels seeks to attract voters satisfied with neither Trump nor Biden, possibly offering a “unity ticket” with a presidential nominee from one major party and a vice presidential nominee from the other.

Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the presidential race following her defeat on Super Tuesday, announced last Friday that she would not run on a third-party ticket with No Labels. “I’m a Republican,” the former South Carolina governor said. “If I were to do No Labels, that would require a Democrat. I can’t do what I wanted to express with the Democrats.”

No Labels reportedly also expressed interest in former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R.), former Maryland governor Larry Hogan (R.), and West Virginia senator Joe Manchin (D.). While Hogan and Manchin have since ruled out the possibility, Christie, who ended his presidential campaign as a Republican in January, has recently said he would consider a bid with the centrist group after turning it down in July. 

The former New Jersey governor, however, voiced concerns about a No Labels bid pulling votes from Biden and helping reelect Trump. “I am going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again. And that’s more important than my own personal ambition,” Christie said as he announced his campaign suspension.