No Labels, a US political group founded in 2010 as a “common sense” centrist alternative to the two-party US political system, announced on Thursday that it will not be launching an independent US presidential campaign this year. The move comes after months of attempts by the group to recruit candidates for a bipartisan “unity ticket” that would challenge the Democratic and Republican nominees, expected to be Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
“No Labels has always said we would only offer our ballot line to a ticket if we could identify candidates with a credible path to winning the White House,” the group said in a statement after media reports of its decision. “No such candidates emerged, so the responsible course of action is for us to stand down.”
The news once again underscores the challenges facing third-party political groups in the US, where the Democratic and Republican parties have consolidated vast swaths of the ideological spectrum, the barriers to independent political organization are high, and the state-by-state Electoral College system makes a victory on election day daunting.
No Labels had a level of organization and financial backing, however, that few other outside political groups have recently mustered. It had already obtained a presidential ballot line in 21 states and predicted more to come. It also has raised tens of millions of dollars from an undisclosed list of donors.
Ultimately, despite discussions with prominent centrist politicians, no one was willing to take the plunge into what mainstream polling suggested would be a futile effort. The announcement will be cheered by Democrats, but there are still independent candidates who have the potential to shake up the 2020 presidential election rematch.