WASHINGTON — A top No Labels leader said Thursday that Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley would “deserve serious consideration” for the group’s nomination if it decides to run a third-party candidate for president.
Joe Lieberman, a former senator from Connecticut and co-chairman of No Labels, said Haley’s record as governor of South Carolina and U.N. ambassador would fit well with the group’s plan to find a candidate in the likely event that the 2024 elections will be a rematch. between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump.
“I think I speak for many No Labels members. Gov. Haley would deserve serious consideration,” Lieberman said. “But that’s a decision she has to make, and it’s not easy. So we will have to wait and see.”
Haley’s team said she was not interested in the offer.
“Nikki has no interest in No Labels, she is happy with the Republican label,” said Haley campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas.
Haley finished third in the Iowa caucuses and is counting on a strong performance in next week’s New Hampshire primary to give her a path to surpass Trump, the overwhelming frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination.
Lieberman said last week that he would like former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who recently ended his own presidential campaign for the Republican Party, to consider running on the No Labels ticket, calling him “the kind candidate that No Labels is looking for.”
Meanwhile, former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan quit his role as co-chairman of No Labels, prompting speculation that he was preparing for a possible presidential campaign on the No Labels ticket. He later tried to quell that speculation and endorsed Haley as the Republican candidate.
Lieberman’s comments about Haley came in response to a question before the abrupt end of a news conference in Washington where No Labels leaders called on the Justice Department to investigate their critics. Several groups aligned with Democrats have aggressively criticized No Labels and are discouraging candidates and political operatives from working with the group, warning that a third-party candidate cannot win but would help Trump return to power White House.
In a letter to the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, No Labels’ leaders allege that the campaign against them is an illegal conspiracy designed to interfere with their constitutional right to access elections. They distinguish attacks on them from typical political commentary, that is, speech protected by the First Amendment, by comparing their work to the civil rights movement.
“The alleged conspiracy to stop No Labels is a brazen attempt at voter suppression,” Benjamin Chavis Jr., former head of the NAACP and co-chairman of No Labels, said at the press conference.
The letter mentions a series of events, most of which are common political tactics or government decisions. A mobile billboard with a photo of Trump next to photos of No Labels CEO Nancy Jacobson and her husband, Mark Penn, drove through their Georgetown neighborhood. A No Labels employee said she was warned by a friend that she was jeopardizing her career in Democratic politics by working with the group.
Arizona’s Democratic Party has filed an unsuccessful lawsuit challenging No Labels’ access to ballots in the battleground state. The Maine Secretary of State sent a letter to members of the new No Labels party telling them how to change parties. A letter from the liberal group MoveOn asked other secretaries of state to investigate the group. And several critics have held rallies to discourage lawmakers, donors, candidates, politicians and others from working with No Labels.
“This is a desperate attempt to save their failing campaign and stop their fleeing supporters who have finally seen through their facade,” the Lincoln Project, one of the groups targeted in the letter, said in a statement.
No Labels, which has declined to reveal its donors, has qualified for the ballot in 14 states, including the battleground states of Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina, and is active in more than a dozen others. It plans to offer its ballot line to a “bipartisan unity ticket” as an alternative to Trump and Biden if they remain the front-runners to win their party’s nomination, saying Americans are clamoring for another option.
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Cooper reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard contributed from Columbia, SC
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