No Labels will not mount third-party 2024 bid after failing to find candidate

The centrist group No Labels will not field a third-party candidate for US president this year, it announced on Thursday.

“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 the news. Citing unnamed sources, the paper said Nancy Jacobson, founder and chief executive of No Labels, “told allies this week” an announcement would be made on Monday.

The group had not been able to find a credible ticket, the Journal said, despite reaching out to 30 potential candidates. No Labels then confirmed its decision.

Last week, No Labels saw both a rejection from the former New Jersey governor and two-time Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie and the death of Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic and independent Connecticut senator who was Al Gore’s vice-presidential nominee in 2000 before becoming No Labels chair.

Besides Christie, the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, the former Maryland governor Larry Hogan and the soon-to-retire West Virginia senator Joe Manchin also ruled out No Labels bids.

Haley and Hogan are Republicans, and Manchin is the only Democrat in statewide elected office in West Virginia.

On its website, No Labels says: “America deserves strong, honest and effective leaders in the White House who will commit to working closely with both parties to deliver commonsense solutions to America’s biggest problems. But most