Ruling in Arizona favors No Labels

PHOENIX — No Labels, the group preparing for a possible third-party presidential campaign, can prohibit members from using its ballot line to run for office in Arizona, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

The decision protects the group’s efforts to maintain control and secrecy around its operations and finances as Donald Trump critics warn that No Labels could help return Trump to the White House by siphoning voters who might otherwise vote for President Joe Biden.

A judge blocked Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes from recognizing candidates wanting to run for office under the No Labels banner aside from the party’s yet-to-be-chosen ticket for president and vice president.

Fontes, a Democrat, called the ruling “dead wrong” and vowed to appeal. He warned that the ruling could keep the nearly 19,000 No Labels party members from voting in a primary, and the precedent could allow party bosses to decide who can run for office from any party.

“This current decision will disenfranchise almost 19,000 registered Arizona voters, and if it stands, it could potentially derail the entire candidate nomination process,” Fontes said in a statement.

No Labels officials said the ruling “strongly vindicates our constitutional rights.”

“Our ballot line cannot be hijacked. Our movement will not be stopped,” Benjamin Chavis Jr., a No Labels national co-chair, and former Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, the group’s director of ballot integrity, said in a statement.

Judge John Tuchi, a Barack Obama appointee, ruled that No Labels has a First Amendment right to determine whom it wants to associate with.

Fontes had argued that he’s obligated to accept filings from candidates even if party leaders reject them. Tuchi agreed, but said that requirement was trumped by the need to protect No Labels’ constitutional rights.

Richard Grayson, one of five No Labels members who have filed to run for office in Arizona, said he was hopeful appellate courts would see the issue differently. Trump can’t tell candidates he doesn’t like that they can’t run for state Legislature, he said.

“There’s a lot of people in the various parties that the parties don’t want them to run, and that’s always been true,” Grayson said Tuesday.