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Join NowICYMI: No Labels Admits They Are “Not In It To Win It”
Bombshell article surfaces troubling reality that “the people behind No Labels are confused”
Washington, D.C. – An astonishing article from The Atlantic lays bare what many have been warning over the last year: No Labels does not have any clear strategy for their doomed third-party presidential bid and would only serve as a spoiler that helps get Donald Trump back in the White House. In a pivotal admission, No Labels’ CEO and founder Nancy Jacobson openly acknowledges, “this organization is not in it to win it.”
“No Labels finally admits it, they are not trying to win,” responded MoveOn Political Action Chief Communications Officer Joel Payne. “If you’re not in it to win it, you’re in it to be a spoiler. Full stop.”
Key passages from the article are included below (emphasis added).
The Atlantic: A Wild and Dangerous 2024 Experiment
Inside No Labels, the most confounding third-party gambit of the 2024 election
By John Hendrickson
“But I just want to clarify, this organization is not in it to win it,” Jacobson said, a truly unusual statement for a political operative.
“This organization is in it to give people a choice.”
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Even if the forthcoming White House bid ends up as nothing but a sideshow, it is still garnering attention: Polls indicate that a No Labels ballot line may well draw more votes away from Biden than Trump. It could be the deciding variable that secures Trump’s return to power.
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I’ve spent the past several weeks talking with No Labels’ leaders, staffers, consultants, and opponents, trying to understand the organization’s endgame. I came away confused, and convinced that the people behind No Labels are confused, too.
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At the private briefing this month, one team member shared their screen with a chart boasting that 110,000 people were “No Labels Party Members.” When I asked about that specific word—party—which contradicts the organization’s central argument, Clancy, the chief strategist, said, “To the extent that this is convoluted, we can blame our campaign-finance laws.” A day later, a No Labels representative emailed me a lengthy statement explaining the difference between what a political party does and what No Labels is doing. I can’t say I was able to discern a clear distinction.
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In an email to me, Jacobson alluded to the idea that “winning” a majority of the vote is not necessarily No Labels’ main goal.
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Andy Bursky, the group’s chair, told me unprompted: “No Labels’ ballot-access infrastructure is not the work of crackpots or crazy dreamers or amateurs. Rather, it’s an effort led and staffed by clear-eyed, sober professionals, animated by a shared concern for our democracy and, in particular, the choices that the two-party duopoly is shoving down the throats of the electorate.” A few minutes later, Jacobson chimed in with a more macro, and more confusing, thought: “No Labels will never, ever be involved in politics.”
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In an email, Jacobson told me, “Personally, I would never vote for Trump ever, nor would the leaders or the donors to the group.”
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Read the entire article here: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/02/no-labels-2024-election/677570/
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