No Labels accused of plotting to stop both Biden and Trump from winning 2024 election

Opposition to No Labels is accusing the third-party organization of campaigning to keep both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump out of the White House in 2024.

The group that has been courting Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) as its standard-bearer has reportedly considered changing its strategy. A slide in a new presentation shows that having a Republican on top in a three-way race in eight battleground states — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — is the third-party group’s “best chance of winning.”

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Putting a Republican on top of the ballot would turn several of the battleground states’ races into a “toss-up,” according to No Labels’s analysis. With this strategy, Biden would only win one race, Pennsylvania, by 7 points. The president also would only win Pennsylvania in a Biden vs. Trump race by a 5+ point lead.

Third Way, a group that criticizes No Labels for allegedly working to prevent Biden’s reelection, called the slide’s estimates a “dramatic shift in strategy” in a recent memo. Previously, No Labels has argued it would have a viable path to receiving 270 Electoral College votes in 2024, a claim Third Way has also challenged.

“Since they launched their third-party presidential effort last year, the No Labels Party has repeated a central refrain: ‘our bipartisan ticket, led either by a Democrat or a Republican, will not be a spoiler — we are in this to win.’ But that has now changed,” Third Way said in the memo.

Third Way also claims that No Labels is trying to play “kingmaker” and prevent Trump or Biden from reaching 270 Electoral College votes.

“This, No Labels believes, would give them leverage to cut a deal by promising their electors’ support to whichever major party candidate they deem more worthy,” Third Way said.

In the event that no president reaches a majority, Third Way said it would trigger a contingent election, which is decided by a special vote in the House of Representatives. Because Republicans hold a delegation advantage of 26-22, Third Way believes a contingent election will elect Trump.

“A contingent election in the House would create chaos,” Third Way said. “In the wake of the Big Lie and the January 6th insurrection, the danger of a scheme designed to pressure faithless electors into voting as they’re instructed by a small group of elites is self-evident.”

In a statement to the Washington Examiner, No Labels chief strategist Ryan Clancy called the claim of a “secret plan” to bring the 2024 election to the House floor a “conspiracy theorist’s fever dream.”

“Firstly, we are getting on the 2024 presidential ballot to win the election outright in the electoral college. We’ve done our homework and polled eight battleground states to get a snapshot of how voters feel about President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, revealing the path for an independent ticket to win the White House is wider now than ever before,” Clancy said. “Secondly, we have not decided who will be on our Unity ticket. We will announce our selection process in early November.”

“We are listening to America’s commonsense majority, and they — not conspiracy theorists — will choose the next president of the United States,” Clancy continued.

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No Labels has sought to open the door for a third-party candidate in several presidential contests. For the 2024 election specifically, the group says it hopes to provide alternatives to Trump or Biden for voters who do not want to see a repeat of 2020. However, groups such as Third Way and Democratic allies and lawmakers say No Labels’s efforts could harm Biden and aid the GOP, something No Labels has denied.

Among the battleground states listed in the presentation, No Labels has gained access to ballots in Arizona, North Carolina, Florida, and Nevada.