The No Labels Party doesn't have a candidate; it barely even has a party. But a super PAC affiliated with the group is planning to raise $300 million to spend on a presidential campaign — if it ever names a candidate.
Sometimes, you get the feeling that No Labels is a mirage. It makes all these announcements about candidates, conventions, super PACS, and the great progress it's making in getting on state ballots. But you have to wonder if there's anything of substance behind the press releases.
Raising $300 million is a gigantic undertaking. As with anything in business, you have to spend it to make it. That means dozens of staff members, regional offices, and an army of volunteers. Even then, without a candidate, few big donors will open their wallets to fund such a venture.
Would they open their pocketbooks for Chris Christie? NBC News is reporting that No Labels has approached Christie's handlers about a possible run.
“Neither the governor nor anyone on the campaign has had conversations with No Labels,” Christie campaign manager Maria Comella said after he announced the suspension of his campaign. That may be true, but is he open to the possibility? Christie hasn't discussed the issue with staff, but Comella noted that Christie said in his speech suspending his campaign that he was “not going away.”
Another possible taker for the No Labels Party ticket is former Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. Hogan is the co-chair of the No Labels Party and would be expected to resign if he chose to run for president, a move he made on Thursday when he submitted his resignation.
A Hogan candidacy would almost certainly help Trump more than Biden given the former governor's moderate stance on the issues. Hogan would draw far more votes away from Biden than Trump. But No Labels Party has pledged not to nominate a candidate if it helped Donald Trump.
The entrance of a No Labels ticket in the race would be a blow to both Biden and Trump, siphoning off centrist voters and changing the contours of the race. In what is expected to be a close contest, the presence of third-party candidates could peel away support from the major parties and cause surprise upsets in some states.
The $300 million the group aims to raise is much more than the Biden or Trump campaigns reported having on hand in their most recent campaign finance reports. But that sum is about one-third of what the Republican party raised in 2020 to support Trump.
In fact, $300 million would be a shoestring budget for a national campaign and would mean that the No Labels candidate, whoever it is, would be severely underfunded compared to the billion-plus dollars that Biden and Trump will raise.
Meanwhile, Hogan played it coy in his resignation letter.
“In stepping aside, it is my intent that new leaders, who can devote themselves full-time to the effort, will be able to take the helm to direct the No Labels political operation,” Hogan wrote.
Separately, an elections official in Maryland said Wednesday that No Labels had obtained enough verified signatures to get on the ballot in Hogan’s home state. Thirteen other states have approved No Labels for the 2024 ballot.
No Labels leaders plan to decide this spring whether to nominate a presidential ticket, and if so, to pick nominees. Details about that process have been murky, however, and the group has repeatedly failed to meet its own goals for announcing plans. It cancelled its convention scheduled for April in Dallas in favor of a virtual meeting.
The idea that No Labels hasn't decided to put up a third-party ticket is ludicrous. You don't go out and raise $300 million and not spend it. And since the party has already indicated that it wants an alternative to a Trump-Biden rematch, it seems a foregone conclusion that someone will be running on the ballot from the No Labels Party come November.
