A newly founded political party claiming to be centrist and catering to moderate voters is making progress in terms of being able to gain ballot access in a growing number of states, and it’s the Democrats who are running scared.
No Labels, a group aiming to provide voters with a non-extremist option for the 2024 presidential election, has garnered sufficient backing to appear on the ballots in Colorado, Arizona, and Oregon. The group has received mixed reactions, with some accusing it of being a deliberate attempt to harm President Biden’s re-election prospects, while others denounce it as a scam.
“Rather than producing a third-party ticket that would defy the overwhelming odds and win, No Labels is on track to field a spoiler who would re-elect Trump or a Trump-like Republican,” think tank Third Way said in a memo this week.
With President Biden poised to commence his re-election campaign soon and the Republicans lining up to challenge former President Trump for the GOP nomination, there is increasing focus on the drive to establish a third party that is attracting interest from both the left and the right, Fox News reported.
Despite several attempts, third-party candidates have failed to garner significant support in past presidential elections. A warning memo from Third Way, which was reported by Politico on Tuesday, contended that third-party candidates have little chance of winning a general election and would primarily siphon off voters who would otherwise vote for the Democratic candidate.
Third Way argued that history has shown that when third-party candidates like Jill Stein and Gary Johnson make it to the November election, it only benefits Republicans, though that’s not entirely true: When Ross Perot ran as a Reform Party candidate in 1992, incumbent GOP President George H. W. Bush lost to Democratic nominee Bill Clinton.
“No Labels casts Biden and Trump as equally extreme and frames their ticket as an antidote to a rematch. But this is a smokescreen. Joe Biden has governed as a mainstream moderate, passing more bipartisan legislation than anyone dreamed possible,” Third Way’s memo said.
“No Labels is committed to fielding a candidate that will, intentionally or not, provide a crucial boost to Republicans — and a major obstacle to Biden. As a result, they’ll make it far more likely — if not certain — that Donald Trump returns to the White House.”
But No Labels claims that its “unity ticket” would have equal support from voters who lean Republican and Democratic. Their proposed path to victory aims to secure electoral votes from swing and purple states across the US.
No Labels responded to criticism on Thursday night, stating in a tweet that none of its members had any intention of supporting a spoiler effort, Fox News noted.
“At some point in the future, it could become clear that the public doesn’t want an independent ticket or that there is no path for one to win. Or we could find that there are no candidates with broad appeal or the courage to take on this challenge. If that happens, No Labels will not offer our ballot line to any presidential candidate,” the statement added.
