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On Monday, West Vriginia Democrat Senator Joe Manchin will be headed to New Hampshire to attend a “No Labels” event, sparking speculation and fear that he could make a bid for the White House in 2024 as an Independent candidate, potentially taking away moderate Democrat and Independent votes from Joe Biden.
No Labels has been pushing a “unity ticket”, that will feature one moderate Democrat and one moderate Republican and their is some speculation that Joe Manchin could be on that ticket in 2024. Manchin did attempt to downplay speculation slightly and said that the event is not about running for Pressident although he’s “not ruling anything in, not ruling anything out.”
Democrats are worried that if Manchin did decide to run for President, he would be forced to announce that he won’t be running for re-election, likely flipping that seat and the Senate to Republicans. West Virginia has been ranked as one of the reddest states by FiveThirtyEight.
Manchin will appear alongside former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (R) at St. Anselm College where the event is scheduled to be held.
Manchin said in his statement that Americans are “exceedingly frustrated by the growing divide in our political parties and toxic political rhetoric from our elected leaders”.
“Our political discourse is lacking engaged debates around common sense solutions to solve the pressing issues facing our nation,” he said. “I am looking forward to modeling this type of conversation with my good friend, Gov. Huntsman, and the No Labels community.”
No Labels hasn’t committed to anything yet but is in the process of laying the ground work in case they feel that neither of the two parties selected a “suitable” candidate.
According to their website, “No Labels is working to ensure Americans have the choice to vote for a presidential ticket that features strong, effective, and honest leaders who will commit to working closely with both parties to find commonsense solutions to America’s biggest problems”.
According to The Intercept, No Labels has begun to lay the ground work in more than a dozen states, so far only succeeding in Arizona, Colorado, Alaska, and Oregon.
“We already are on the ballot in about four states. We’ll do another six by mid-spring, about 30 by the end of the year,” No Labels spokesperson Ryan Clancy said last month.
Arizona Democrats are not happy about this potential third party bid and are seeking to remove their party from the ballot. According to The Intercept, Arizona Democrats are claiming that No Labels gained access improperly when it submitted affidavits from proposed No Labels electors that had been signed before all of its ballot petitions had been collected. According to the Intercept “Arizona law requires the ballot petition process to be completed prior to collecting affidavits, and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, should have rejected the No Labels petition due to the procedural error, the lawsuit claims.”
Arizona Democrats are claiming that because No Labels is currently run as a 501(c)(4) organization, they cannot be engaged in politiical activity and are not in compliance with federal election regulations.
Maine, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is also confronting No Labels on with allegations that it misled voters into registering for a third party without their knowledge.
“Over the past few months, municipal clerks have received reports from numerous Maine voters who did not realize they had been enrolled in the No Labels Party,” Bellows wrote in a letter to the group. “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.”
