The political organization known as No Labels made it official on Friday that it will move forward with its presidential ticket. The centrist group has been raising millions of dollars to promote a viable independent ticket in every state in the country. The only thing left to do now is to define the candidate since Joe Manchin didn't work out.
More than 800 of the organization's delegates gathered virtually on Friday afternoon to vote almost unanimously on the nomination.
"Earlier today, I led a discussion with the 800 No Labels delegates from all 50 states. These citizen leaders have spent months discussing with one another the kind of leadership they want to see in the White House in 2024," the group's National Convention chairman, Mike Rawlings, wrote in a statement.
🚨Statement from Chief Strategist @RyanClancyNL:
“Now that No Labels’ delegates have given the go ahead for us to accelerate our candidate search for a Unity ticket, voters will read plenty of speculation about who would be on it. But No Labels has not yet chosen a ticket and…
— No Labels (@NoLabelsOrg) March 8, 2024
"They voted near unanimously to continue our 2024 project and to move immediately to identify candidates to serve on the Unity presidential ticket. Every one of our delegates had their own explanation for wanting to move ahead," he added.
So far, the organization has been quite discreet about potential candidates, although it acknowledged that they could be either Democrats or Republicans. Some of the names previously rumored were Larry Hogan, Mitt Romney, Eric Daniels, Rob Portman and Manchin.
Another headache for Joe Biden?
The polls are not very encouraging for the Democrat's re-election campaign, as most place him below Donald Trump in key states such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin.
However, the polls are even worse if we add the candidacies of Robert Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West. We will now have to add the name that comes out of the No Labels convention to the list.
Statement from Mike Rawlings, No Labels National Convention Chair: pic.twitter.com/OshcvXrlNm
— No Labels (@NoLabelsOrg) March 8, 2024
The main goal behind No Labels
Voz Media spoke exclusively with former Senator Joe Lieberman, one of the independent organization's straight shooters, who explained that the main goal behind the group was to get "the government working again."
"(Partisanship) has taken over. In other words, the people who are active in the Republican and Democratic party seem to be more loyal to their party than they are to the country or even to their own constituents and that's not the way it was meant to be," Lieberman explained.
The former senator, who also came within a little more than 500 votes of becoming vice president, spoke of the political undercurrent behind the group's presidential venture.
"We call it an insurance policy project, by that it means we're not sure we're going to use it, which is what we always say when we buy insurance on our house or car, but if we have to we will and hopefully that'll have the effect of bringing the two major parties back more toward the center and working together," said Lieberman, who months later decided to cash in on that policy.
The presidential ticket is still unknown. Despite Joe Manchin deciding not to run, the names at the top of the ticket are expected to be made official in April.
