No Labels ‘talking with several exceptional leaders,’ national co-chair says

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis speaks about the 2024 election at National Press Club in Washington on Jan. 18, 2024.

A national co-chair for No Labels said Sunday the organization continues to pursue “several exceptional leaders” in the wake of Sen. Joe Manchin’s decision not to run for president in 2024.

“We’re talking with several exceptional leaders. We have our own internal process,” Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis said on “The Weekend” on MSNBC.

No Labels is seeking to offer a centrist unity ticket for the 2024 presidential election. Manchin (D-W.Va.), who is retiring from the Senate, was considered a possible candidate but said Friday he would not be running. Another potential candidate, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, has opted instead to run for an open Senate seat in his state.

While not naming anyone who might run, Chavis said No Labels was pushing forward.

“In the next couple of weeks or more,” Chavis said, “we will probably make an announcement whether or not we will give the ballot access to a unity ticket. A unity ticket means a Republican and a Democrat. And we are talking to Republicans, Democrats and independents.”

Rejecting co-host Michael Steele’s arguments about the difficulty of No Labels winning the fall election, Chavis said No Labels has qualified for the November ballot in “16 states” and is pushing forward around the country to get on the ballot in all 50.

“It’s a long, tedious process. And we’re very pleased with the voter access that we’ve gotten so far. And we’re going to keep pushing,” Chavis said.

Chavis, a longtime civil rights activist and former executive director of the NAACP, is listed as national co-chair for the organization, along with former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory. Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000, is listed as the founding chair; former Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is director of the organization’s ballot integrity project.

“We’re in a state of uncertainty in our nation,” Chavis said on MSNBC. “The only thing that’s certain right now is uncertainty. So I don’t think we should speculate on what’s going to happen because nobody really knows.”