WASHINGTON — No Labels is facing growing scrutiny over the possibility it could play a spoiler role in the 2024 presidential election, with its founder and CEO saying in an exclusive interview that he is vowing to end the third-party effort of the group in 2024 if you risk putting Donald. Trump is back in the White House.
But Nancy Jacobson repeatedly declined to offer any metrics on how the group would determine whether to withdraw.
“As a democrat? That’s categorically not going to happen,” Jacobson said in response to a question about concerns that a third-party ticket, running on the ballot line that No Labels is seeking in every state, could divert votes from President Joe Biden and benefit Trump. “This effort will never, we will pull it down.”
Jacobson immediately added, “We’re not going to pander to either side. The only reason to do it is to win.”
It’s a bold statement in a nation where the most successful third-party presidential effort of the last century finished in a distant third. And while the No Labels effort took off this week with a public campaign-style event in Manchester, New Hampshire, much of its political effort remains secret.
The group does not disclose its donors and is not publicly discussing its deliberations on who it may recruit to run on the intended bipartisan ticket. The details of how its convention in Dallas in April will operate are also unclear, although the group does not plan to hold traditional primaries or caucuses in which voters select a presidential candidate. Jacobson said the group will evaluate its position after Super Tuesday and the Florida primary next year.
Jacobson worked as a major fundraiser for the Clintons and the Democratic Party before forming No Labels in 2010, helped create the Congressional Problem Solvers Caucus, and helped moderate members of Congress from both parties in their choices.
Jacobson, a Democrat, demurred when asked if Biden represented the bipartisan leader No Labels has focused its efforts on. Biden ran his 2020 presidential campaign on a promise to work with congressional Republicans. His campaign has often pointed to the passage of the CHIPS Act, the infrastructure package and the debt ceiling deal — deals celebrated by No Labels allies in Congress — as proof of the president’s work.
“Joe Biden is a good man. There’s been a lot of tremendous legislation, but the point is, it’s about the voters. It’s not about us,” Jacobson said. “It’s about the voters, and the voters in this country right now are not saying they want it as an option, right now.”
Aspects of the current polls are dire for Biden. Although he held a slight lead against Trump in the most recent NBC News national poll, his approval rating stood at 43 percent. And 44 percent of voters, including a larger share of Democrats than Republicans, say they are open to considering a third-party candidate.
It is in this context that national Democrats have expressed deep concern about the consequences of No Labels’ presidential efforts.
“I don’t think No Labels is a political party,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz. he told CNN on Sunday. “I mean, this is a few individuals putting dark money behind an organization, and that’s not what our democracy should be about. … Obviously, I’m concerned about what’s going on here in Arizona and around the country “.
Jacobson said the group would not disclose its donors, saying, “There’s nothing nefarious going on here.”
He said the group is not legally required to disclose its financial sources.
The Democratic Party of Arizona filed a complaint with the Arizona Secretary of State’s office last week, arguing that No Labels should be suspended as a political party for not following the same financial disclosure rules as the state’s Republican and Democratic parties.
Although registered as a political party, Jacobson denied that the group, which is incorporated as a so-called social welfare nonprofit, is acting as a party, arguing that it will only make its voting line available for a presidential ticket. , they don’t actually operate the eventual campaign.
“That’s just language,” Jacobson said. “This is not, you know, we’re not working, we’re a ticket, one time.
“A party – [the] The definition of a party is to run candidates up and down the ballot box. That’s not what we’re doing,” he continued.
Some Biden allies, seeing No Labels as a clear potential spoiler, have questioned the true motivations behind Jacobson’s mission. But one of his top advisers, William Galston, who left the organization in April over his opposition to the presidential ticket operation, defended his intentions in an interview.
“I don’t question the motives or the patriotism or the integrity of anyone involved in this effort,” Galston said. “My opposition is a simple matter of political analysis. I think there’s a gap between what No Labels wants to do and what their efforts will actually achieve.”
Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, helped Jacobson start No Labels in 2010, but left the organization in April over his opposition to the presidential ticket operation.
“I don’t see a serious possibility that an independent, bipartisan, centrist, third-party ticket can succeed and win the presidency,” Galston said, adding, “I fear that, despite their intentions to the contrary, if it continues, “It’s going to end. It’s going to end up helping Donald Trump.”
According to the NBC News exit poll, a majority of those who voted third-party in 2016 decided to support Biden four years later, helping to deny Trump re-election. Now, Democrats fear that a growing third-party vote in 2024 will lower the threshold Trump needs to win again, as it did in 2016, when 47% to 48% of the vote was enough to capture key swing states. exchange.
Jacobson defended the organization’s credibility in his interview, citing the many nationally recognized figures affiliated with it.
“Because we’ve been here for 13 years. They can see the leaders around that,” Jacobson said. “They can see Sen. Joe Lieberman. They can see Governor Larry Hogan. They can see a civil rights leader, Ben Chavis. They can see all the leaders. They can see our work for the last 13 years.”
On Monday in New Hampshire, Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., and Jon Huntsman, the former Republican governor of Utah and ambassador to China, headlined No Labels’ “Common Sense Town Hall” at Saint Anselm College.
Manchin said in an interview that “nothing is off the table” regarding his moves in 2024, leaving the door open to joining the No Labels ticket. He said he will decide “next year.”
“Let’s see where everybody goes. Let’s see what happens,” Manchin said.
Last week, businessman Mark Cuban praised the organization’s presidential ticket plan, but dropped himself from the mix for consideration.
“I like that they are trying a new way. I think the two-party system is broken,” Cuban said.
