Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans unite to fight third-party ticket bid
Cami Mondeaux
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Top Democratic strategists met with a group of former Republican lawmakers to devise a plan to take down a possible third-party presidential ticket that they say would hand former President Donald Trump the White House in 2024.
The meeting was hosted by public policy think tank Third Way and featured a number of Biden advisers as well as former senators and other lawmakers, a spokesperson confirmed to the Washington Examiner. However, the think tank declined to comment further on the event, noting the meeting was “confidential.”
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Attendees seen at the event include former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, Democratic National Committee senior adviser Cedric L. Richmond, former Alabama Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, and others, according to the Washington Post. Matt Bennett, the executive vice president of Third Way, confirmed the list to the Washington Examiner.
Officials met to discuss recent efforts by No Labels, a centrist political group that has vowed to promote a third-party ticket if the 2024 election features a rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden. Several Democrats as well as anti-Trump Republicans have denounced such efforts, arguing doing so would cost Biden the White House and pave the way for another Trump term.
“No Labels is wasting time, energy, and money on a bizarre effort that confuses and divides voters and has one obvious outcome — reelecting Donald Trump as president,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
During the meeting, attendees discussed recent polling they saw that proves a third-party campaign would draw crucial support away from Biden, making it easier for Trump to win — creating a ticket often referred to as a “spoiler candidate.” Instead, officials have proposed raising money counter to No Labels’s efforts and pressing centrist lawmakers to advise against the plan.
No Labels has rejected accusations it would spoil Biden’s chances of being reelected, claiming it would drop its efforts if Trump is not elected as the GOP nominee. The group pointed to its own internal polling that only shows a potential victory for a third-party candidate if Trump is in the race, vowing to exit the race entirely if there is no path to victory.
“What we’re doing is sticking to the plan we’ve had from the very beginning, which is: This is only worth doing if you think you can win,” Ryan Clancy, chief strategist for No Labels, told the Washington Examiner. “And today, the data is telling us it looks like it’d be a really steep road for an independent to win if it’s a Republican other than Trump.”
The group has already launched a $70 million campaign to secure an independent ticket across the United States, securing ballot access in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Alaska. Efforts to get the party on the ballot in Maine have been met with resistance from the Maine secretary of state’s office, which claims voters were misled into changing their party affiliation to No Labels under the guise of it being a petition.
No Labels has pushed back against the claims.
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Candidates for the third-party ticket have not been determined, and officials say they would not be announced until the group’s nomination convention next April.
“We understand all the reasons why people are skeptical that there could ever be an opening for any kind of alternative other than two major party nominees because, in our living memory, they’ve never gone that far,” Clancy said. “Why would it surprise people that if somebody else comes along and says, ‘What would you think if I gave you another choice? If that was the choices you were faced with?’ Why would it surprise you that lots of people say, ‘Yeah, I’m open to that choice?’ And that’s exactly what’s happening.”