- Bill Clinton told both Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and Republican Gov. Larry Hogan that his presidential nominee would re-elect former President Donald Trump
- Both Manchin and Hogan had considered running as candidates on a moderate, bipartisan “No Labels” ticket
- That group is still looking for a viable third-party candidate and is currently flirting with Republican Nikki Haley
Both moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Republican Governor Larry Hogan have said they will not run on a third-party ‘No Labels’ ticket, and behind the scenes it was former President Bill Clinton who pushed them not to do so. doing. So.
New York Magazine reported this on Monday about the role Clinton played in convincing influential moderates to resign.
In June, when Hogan, the former governor of Maryland, appeared next to the ex-Democratic president at an event in Little Rock, Arkansas, Clinton addressed him before they walked onstage.
Any independent presidential bid would only benefit former Republican President Donald Trump, Clinton said.
Two months later, while Manchin was vacationing near the Clintons in East Hampton, the former president delivered the same message to the outgoing West Virginia senator.
Former Democratic President Bill Clinton told both former Republican Governor of Maryland Larry Hogan and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia that they would help re-elect former President Donald Trump if they ran on a ‘No Labels’ ticket
Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (left) has since announced a bid for the Maryland Senate in his retirement. Senator Joe Manchin (R) of West Virginia announced in mid-February that he would not run for president in 2024
“This time he dropped the diplomatic niceties and sharply told the senator he risked putting Trump back in the White House,” New York Magazine reported.
In a one-two punch, the 77-year-old ex-president had taken out two of the most formidable third-party hopefuls the No Labels company could hope for.
Since then, Hogan has announced he will run for the U.S. Senate as he races to take over from retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin.
Manchin announced in mid-February that he would not run.
Both Manchin and Hogan have been critical of Trump, although Manchin has been a thorn in President Joe Biden’s side on several key pieces of legislation.
Without Manchin and Hogan as options, No Labels’ effort seems rudderless at the moment.
The group has been courting Nikki Haley, whose campaign for the Republican nomination against Trump could mathematically be over by the middle of this month.
The current chairman is former Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham, who, like Haley, is from South Carolina.
He was expelled from Congress by Haley’s friend turned enemy, Republican Representative Nancy Mace.
Haley has publicly rejected these flirtations.
“If I did No Labels, it would take a Democrat. I can’t do what I wanted to say to the Democrats,” she said recently during a call with reporters. ‘I have always believed: if you do something, do it well or don’t do it.’
However, the idea of a No Labels ticket is that it has one Republican and one Democrat on it Puck News reports thisthe group has made it clear that they need a Republican on top of that ticket to avoid handing the election to Trump.
On Friday — three days after Super Tuesday is expected to give Trump victories in a dozen or more states — No Labels will hold a virtual convention with its 800 delegates ready to decide whether to continue the effort and with whom.
If this doesn’t happen, Clinton can take credit for derailing it.