No Labels founding chairman Joe Lieberman said Americans' anger toward Republicans and Democrats is at a level he has not witnessed before.
“I’ve never seen this much anger at the two major parties,” Lieberman said in a Sunday interview with radio host John Catsimatidis on The Cats Roundtable. “And this high a disappointment about the fact that we may be left with a choice of Presidents Trump and Biden, once again.”
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The political organization has long sought to open doors for third-party candidates in several presidential contests. For the 2024 election, specifically, the group is weighing options to provide alternatives to former President Donald Trump or President Joe Biden for voters who do not want to see a repeat of the 2020 election.
Lieberman said the group's goal is to get "a third line on the ballot in all 50 states."
“We’re making good progress at it, and we want to leave open the option to put together a bipartisan unity ticket for America, if it looks like that’ll be something constructive to do,” Lieberman said.
No Labels has qualified for the ballot in 12 states as of November — Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota, and Utah — and aimed to be on the ballot in 16 more states by the end of 2023, per Axios.
Some political groups such as Third Way and other Democratic allies have criticized No Labels of working to aid a GOP victory in 2024, with the former going so far as to accuse the third party group of wanting a contingent election. In a contingent election, neither presidential candidate receives the required 270 electoral votes, and the election goes to the House of Representatives for a vote — all but assuring a Republican presidential victory if the GOP remains in control of the chamber.
Jim Messina, former President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager, warned that No Labels is pushing a "dangerous lie" that a third-party candidate can win the House and its efforts would "simply serve to put Trump back in the White House." Given Trump's small margins of victory in 2016 and defeat in 2020 in key swing states, every Democratic vote counts, Messina said.
"This alone should give any responsible person pause," Messina said. "A No Labels candidate in these states could easily hand the election to Trump."
In a September interview, No Labels co-chair and former GOP Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan defended the organization against accusations that it would "spoil" the 2024 race.
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"Nobody’s trying to spoil anything,” Hogan said on CBS News's Face the Nation. “This is about actually receiving a majority of the votes.”
“I think we should only put together a ticket in the event that it’s Trump and Biden,” he added. “And I’m still, again, still trying to work to make sure we can get a good Republican nominee.”