No Labels-- All The Worst Of American Politics Under One Banner

There are few political groups in the U.S. as venomous, destructive and self-serving as billionaire-financed Nancy Jacobson’s and Mark Penn’s No Labels. Want a list of the worst people in the country? Just look at who contributes to No Labels. In fact, one 6-figure donor, it turns out, is Clarence Thomas briber Harlan Crow. No Labels tries hiding who its donors are but the New Republic dug up a document showing that between 2019 and 2021, Crow gave them over $130,000. Most No Labels big donors are right-wing Republicans. And now No Labels is trying to run a ticket— think of right-wing Democrats like Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema teamed upon with a GOP apostate like Larry Hogan or Susan Collins— in a few states that could flip the presidential race to Trump. They have established local parties in Oregon, Colorado and Arizona, although there’s already a lawsuit in Arizona challenging their ability to get ballot access in 2024.

And, almost needless to say, former Democrat Joe Lieberman is right in the middle of the mix. In an interview with Fox News, Lieberman said that “In the next month or two, we're going to form a nominating committee of representatives of our members around the country. And my guess is that committee will begin to make lists of who we should consider if we decide to run a ticket.”

“Lieberman highlighted that No Labels has already raised roughly $30 million as part of its effort to get on the ballot in all 50 states,” reported Fox. “But he acknowledges that if the group goes ahead and fields a third party presidential ticket next year it will need to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. ‘If we get to that point, we'll figure out how to raise the money,’ Lieberman explained. ‘But I will say this: We've had real responses both from small and large contributors who are just worried about the future of the country, and know that we're never going to solve our big problems… unless we end the partisanship and the gridlock in Washington, so I think we're going to be able to raise that money if we actually go ahead and run a unity ticket for America.’”

That’s a lie. Virtually all of No Labels’ funding comes from the super-rich, like the Koch Bros, Peter Thiel, Foster Friess, Hank Greenberg, Paul Singer, Ken Langone, the Murdoch family, Josh Beckenstein, John Arnold, John Catsimatidis, Douglas Durst, Carl Ferenbach, Howard Marks, Nelson Peltz, Marc Rowan, Andrew Tisch, Christy Walton, Eric Zinterhofer... Here are some of them on an old graphic:

A couple weeks ago, William Galston, reporting for the Wall Street Journal on No Labels looked at the unavoidable question: “which of the established parties an additional option would more negatively affect. Since 2000 we have been locked into a cycle of closely contested presidential elections in which no winning candidate has received more than 53% of the popular vote. In both 2016 and 2020, a shift of less than 1% in key states would have changed the outcome, and nearly every survey suggests that the 2024 race will be equally competitive. Even a modest vote share for a third option could prove decisive… Republicans are more enthusiastic about Donald Trump than Democrats are about Joe Biden… [U]nenthusiastic Democrats— who are more numerous than unenthusiastic Republicans— may seriously consider a third option… Biden can win the 2024 election if he is able to consolidate the anti-Trump vote, as he did in 2020. But if a No Labels ticket receives even a tiny share of the vote in key states, Trump could end up back in the Oval Office. No Labels leaders have promised to end their campaign if it becomes clear that their ticket will be a spoiler. The sooner they reach this conclusion, the better.”

Meanwhile, our old friend, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has formally warned No Labels against mischaracterizing its intentions to prospective voters. “Shenna Bellows sent a cease-and-desist letter Thursday to Nicholas Connors, director of ballot access for the group No Labels, expressing concerns that their efforts have confused voters who think they are merely signing a petition but are enrolling in a new party. ‘Over the past few months, municipal clerks have received reports from numerous Maine voters who did not realize that they had been enrolled in the No Labels Party,’ Bellows wrote. ‘These voters have provided similar accounts of how they came to be enrolled in the party: that they were approached by No Labels Party organizers in public places and asked to sign a petition to support the new party. These voters have further stated that No Labels organizers did not disclose– and the voters did not understand– that No Labels was asking them to change their party enrollment.’”