The centrist group considers under what conditions it would back out.
SHIA KAPOS
POLITICO
The centrist political organization No Labels has defended its third-party presidential bid by insisting there’s a broad voter appetite for a candidate running in the political middle.
But the group said it would likely exit the race entirely if Donald Trump doesn’t win the GOP nomination — even as more conservative candidates such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis run to Trump’s right.
CEO Nancy Jacobson, who was in Chicago in early June to talk to donors, and another senior member of the group spoke about their plans at length during an interview with POLITICO.
No Labels has been flirting openly with recruiting a moderate superstar like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to lead its ticket. Such a gambit could dramatically scramble the presidential race, and Democrats fear it could siphon votes from their side.
“No Labels isn’t going to be in the business of making subjective judgments between the various leaders of both parties. What we are going to do is look pretty relentlessly at the data,” said Ryan Clancy, chief strategist for No Labels, during the Zoom interview.
That No Labels is hinging its third-party effort in part on Trump’s fate underscores that the group’s calculus is not tied tightly to ideological considerations. DeSantis slammed the recent bipartisan debt ceiling deal — something No Labels praised.
“You can’t say enough good things about what happened here,” Jacobson said about the debt ceiling deal between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. But she added, “It’s just a start.”
