No Labels, no candidate.
No Labels — the centrist group dedicated to offering a “unity ticket” in the 2024 election as an alternative to President Biden and Donald Trump — suspended their campaign Thursday after failing to find any worthy White House contenders.
“Americans remain more open to an independent presidential run, and hungrier for unifying national leadership, than ever before,” the group said in a statement. “But No Labels has always said we would only offer our ballot line to a ticket if we could identify candidates with a credible path to winning the White House. No such candidates emerged, so the responsible course of action is for us to stand down.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported that No Labels would suspend their presidential project.
The suspension ends months-long discussions — and fundraising efforts that took in tens of millions of dollars — for the insurgent effort.
No Labels had announced March 8 it would be moving forward with accelerating “their candidate outreach” to identify Republicans and Democrats that could be on the ticket.
The organization’s 800 delegates had voted nearly unanimously to continue their efforts, national convention chair Mike Rawlings said in a statement at the time.
But the group quickly ran into trouble getting qualified candidates to agree to run.
Former GOP presidential hopefuls Nikki Haley and Chris Christie both ruled out running on the third-party line, as did Biden challenger Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and center-left Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).
Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan also was in talks with No Labels before publicly announcing March 18 he was withdrawing from consideration.
The group refused to reveal who else was being seriously considered for their ticket, stressing their efforts were also focused on getting on the ballot in all 50 states.
No Labels was dealt a further blow March 27 when one of its founding chairman, former Sen. Joe Liberman (D-Conn.) passed away at the age of 82 after a fall.
Going forward, No Labels vowed it will “remain engaged over the next year during what is likely to be the most divisive presidential election of our lives. We will promote dialogue around major policy challenges and call out both sides when they speak and act in bad faith.”
“Like many Americans, we are concerned that the division and strife gripping the country will reach a critical point after this election, regardless of who wins,” No Labels concluded. “Post-election, No Labels will be prepared to champion and defend the values and interests of America’s commonsense majority. We will also bring our citizens and leaders together for a summit to discuss the path forward for our community and our nation.
“Suffice it to say that this movement is not done. In fact, it is just beginning.”