A ‘No Labels’ presidential candidate? Not likely

A “No Labels” president?

No way.

No Labels, a dark money-funded organization pretending not to be a political party, is seeking ballot access around the nation in the likely event it decides to nominate a “unity” ticket for the White House in 2024.

There couldn’t be a greater incongruity or anything more suspect than a so-called reform movement financed by secret sources.

Various media have described efforts by No Labels to solicit major contributions from billionaire donors and corporate executives such as Peter Thiel on the Republican side and a close adviser to George Soros on the other. Former baseball commissioner Bud Selig, a known donor, has a net worth estimated at $400 million.

Even if No Labels were entirely above board, its third-party ticket would be a bad idea.

It won’t succeed

The Electoral College system of winnertake-all state by state is so unsuited to third-party candidacies that none has ever come close to winning the presidency and only two have carried as many as six states.

The presidency will remain a two-party contest until the Electoral College is supplanted with popular election and ranked-choice voting.

Third parties have accomplished nothing but to tip victory from one major party candidate to another.

In 1912, ex-President Theodore Roosevelt and his new Bull Moose Party sabotaged President William Howard Taft, his estranged protégé, by splitting the Republican vote. TR won six states; Taft won Utah and Vermont. Democrat Woodrow Wilson won the other 40 but with majorities in only 10, all in the South.

Democrat Bill Clinton benefited from Ross Perot’s independent candidacy in 1992, even though Perot carried no state.

Remember 2000?

Ralph Nader won no state in 2000 but his 97,488 votes in decisive Florida likely cost Democrat Al Gore the presidency, considering that Gore lost to George W. Bush by 537 votes.

The notion of a third alternative to the two parties has generic appeal. But it’s far-fetched to think that No Labels could win an electoral majority in 2024 with candidates like Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona or former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan — names most often floated as likely candidates. Hogan is national co-chairman of No Labels.

They would be much more likely to tip the election to the Republican nominee, whether it’s former president Donald Trump, his former protégé Ron DeSantis, or some long-shot challenger. Democrats know that, which is why they, not Republicans, are alarmed by No Labels.

That would also mean another minority presidency, which this polarized nation cannot afford. No Labels votes would be mainly at President Joe Biden’s expense.

Although Manchin and Sinema are more conservative than moderate, they’re not nearly extreme enough to win over the GOP’s hard core.

Reasonable Republicans would do better to get behind one of the dark horses in their party, preferably someone who would confront the front-runners over their extreme right policies rather than their supposed un-electability.

Trust questions

It may be unfair for Democrats to allege that No Labels is simply a stalking horse for the GOP, but the group’s secret financing doesn’t lend itself to trust. Neither does the ambiguity of how states would send delegates to its national nominating convention.

By exploiting a campaign law loophole intended for groups trying to draft candidates, No Labels is operating as a nonprofit that is not required to report where it gets its money. That’s dark money, and there’s already far too much of it in American politics.

Congressional candidates it has supported, Manchin among them, have reported its contributions, but No Labels nationally has not responded to a Sun Sentinel query asking whether it intends to register as a political party. There are serious questions as to whether its operations are legal.

The No Labels Party of Florida is chaired by Kathleen Shanahan, who was chief of staff to former Gov. Jeb Bush. It’s registered with the state as a minority party entitled to a presidential ballot line in November 2024 without having to gather petitions.

Its only financial report to the state so far shows a $35,000 stake from No Labels Ballot Access Inc., in Washington, for which the Federal Elections Commission reports no information.

The No Labels Party of Florida advised the secretary of state that it would have no candidates for state office and will not hold a presidential preference primary. It would support the ticket chosen by a national convention. Small groups of insiders apparently would select the national convention delegates.

Some people might point to Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860 as a third-party success, but the six-year-old Republican Party was actually the anti-slavery wing of the venerable Whig Party, which had dissolved over the slavery issue. Lincoln had been a Whig, and other former Whigs were in Congress.

So we have examples in history of a new political party emerging from the ashes of an old one. Unfortunately for No Labels, the Republican Party still in the thrall of Donald Trump is very much alive.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.