No Labels, a Centrist Group, Moves Toward a Third-Party Presidential Bid

The centrist group No Labels said on Friday that it would move forward with plans to nominate a presidential ticket, a move that, if it comes to fruition, would add another complicating factor to the November election.

Leaders of the group announced the plan after an online meeting of its members. The group said it had 800 delegates who voted “near unanimously” to nominate a ticket. No Labels has yet to announce a candidate who might run on its ballot line, however, and several of the best-known politicians it has courted have ruled out a presidential run on a third-party ticket.

“Even though we met virtually, their emotion and desire to bring this divided nation back together came right through the screen,” said Mike Rawlings, No Labels’s national convention chair.

The meeting came at a pivotal moment for No Labels. As state deadlines approach for getting on the ballot for the November election, the group had to move quickly to decide whether to begin a third-party bid, and name its ticket.

No Labels’s evolution from a bipartisan, think tank-like organization to a would-be third party, with aspirations of a presidential candidacy, has alarmed many Democrats, who worry that the group could pull critical votes away from President Biden in battleground states.

“No Labels has put their dangerous, reckless thought experiment ahead of the rights and freedoms of millions of Americans and the future of our democracy,” said Rahna Epting, the executive director of MoveOn, the liberal activist group. “Any candidates who join the No Labels presidential ticket will be complicit in making it easier for Donald Trump and MAGA extremists to win a second term in the White House.”