No Labels, the bipartisan group that had been working toward putting a third-party presidential ticket on the ballot in all 50 states in 2024, announced Thursday that it was ending its efforts.
"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 Labels CEO and co-founder Nancy Jacobson said in a statement. "No such candidates emerged, so the responsible course of action is for us to stand down."
Jacobson said the group will "remain engaged over the next year during what is likely to be the most divisive presidential election of our lifetimes. We will promote dialogue around major policy challenges and call out both sides when they speak and act in bad faith."
The Wall Street Journal was first to report No Labels' move.
The group was spurned by at least a dozen candidates during its recruitment efforts, from former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on the Republican side to Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick on the Democratic side, NBC News reported.
No Labels had also openly suggested that it was interested in former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who shut down any idea of running on a third-party ticket in an interview in early March, soon before she ended her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
And the organization had a tragic setback last week, when former Sen. Joe Lieberman, the founding chairman of No Labels, died unexpectedly after a fall. Lieberman, a longtime Democrat who became an independent in his final years in the Senate, was playing a major role in the group's candidate recruiting efforts.
According to the third-party group, No Labels had gained ballot access in 21 states before ending its longshot bid for the White House.
With a deep well of donor money, No Labels initially looked like it could be a force in the 2024 presidential race — if not to win, then certainly to affect the outcome. Irritated Democrats worked throughout 2023 and 2024 to organize opposition to No Labels, concerned that its effort to put forward a ticket would splinter President Joe Biden's coalition against former President Donald Trump.
