The third-party movement calling itself No Labels is moving forward to pick a presidential candidate.
A Friday meeting is expected to lay out a timetable for the selection process of a presidential and vice-presidential candidate, according to the Associated Press, which cited two people it did not name as its sources.
About 800 delegates will meet virtually Friday, AP reported the sources as saying, with a selection process to be made public next week.
“We have said for months that our movement plans to regroup shortly after Super Tuesday to evaluate the status of our 2024 project and that remains the plan,” No Labels chief strategist Ryan Clancy said in a statement, according to the Washington Examiner.
“Candidates will not be chosen for the Unity ticket during this meeting and it will not be open to the press,” he said.
In a CNN analysis of the impact of a third party, Zachary B. Wolf wrote that Democrats would come out the losers.
“They have actively opposed the No Labels campaign since its inception, warning that it would draw support from Biden,” he wrote.
It’s not clear who might be on a No Labels ticket.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, whose candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination ended this week, has said she is not interested in a No Labels candidacy.
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On the Democratic side, outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has said he is not going to seek the White House.
That has left some wondering if there is a big enough name to make a difference.
“No Labels just missed one heck of an opportunity to potentially be viable, and now I don’t know that they can be viable,” Jim Teague, a No Labels donor who is CEO of a Texas oil and gas company, said, according to Politico.
“I don’t know who they can possibly get to run that would generate excitement that Joe Manchin would have generated,” he said.
Bill Kunkler, donor and supporter, said the selection process will be long on vetting and short on pre-selection publicity.
“There’s going to be a proper vetting process so that we don’t end up with somebody where there are surprises,” he said.
“People might call this a ‘smoke-filled room’ process, but my response is, they can either vote for us and our candidate in November or not. What’s smoke-filled about that?” he said.
No Labels says it is active in 33 states, but is only on the ballot in 16 of them.
According to The Hill, the independent presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has qualified to be on the Utah and Nevada ballots.
According to Axios, the super PAC supporting Kennedy has said it believes it has the signatures to be on the ballot in Arizona, Georgia and South Carolina, and it is near its goal in Michigan.
