No Labels' Mike Rawlings: We have no intention to be the 'spoiler'
No Labels National Convention Chair Mike Rawlings joins 'Special Report' to discuss efforts to put together a 'unity ticket' for the 2024 election.
No Labels on Thursday is expected to take another step toward forming a bipartisan presidential ticket in November's general election.
That's when the centrist group is scheduled to announce the selection process for how a potential candidate will be chosen.
The developments come as No Labels is in discussions with former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan of Georgia to possibly lead their so-called "unity" ticket, sources confirm to Fox News.
No Labels announced Friday that the roughly 800 delegates who took part in a virtual meeting voted to give a thumbs up to fielding a presidential ticket.
HOW NO LABELS IS MOVING TOWARDS LAUNCHING A THIRD-PARTY PRESIDENTIAL TICKET
From left: No Labels leadership and guests Pat McCrory, co-executive director Margaret White, Dan Webb, national co-chair Benjamin F. Chavis and former Sen. Joe Lieberman speak about the 2024 election at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 18. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
"They voted near unanimously to continue our 2024 project and to move immediately to identify candidates to serve on the Unity presidential ticket," No Labels national convention chair Mike Rawlings said in a statement. The meeting was closed to media coverage.
No Labels chief strategist Ryan Clancy said following the vote that "we will announce our formal selection process next Thursday, March 14, with more details to come shortly thereafter."
The move will likely lead to the naming of candidates in the coming weeks.
"Now that No Labels’ delegates have given the go ahead for us to accelerate our candidate search for a Unity ticket, voters will read plenty of speculation about who would be on it. But No Labels has not yet chosen a ticket and any names floating around are being put out there by someone else," Clancy emphasized last week.
NO LABELS CHARGES OPPONENTS ARE TRYING TO KEEP IT OFF THE BALLOT
For over a year, No Labels has mulled a third-party ticket, as it pointed to poll after poll suggesting that many Americans were anything but enthused about a 2024 election rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.
And No Labels had long said that it would decide whether to launch a presidential ticket following Super Tuesday, when 16 states from coast to coast held nominating primaries and caucuses.
Friday's No Labels vote took place three days after Super Tuesday. And this week, Biden and Trump each won enough delegates in Tuesday's primaries to officially clinch the respective Democratic and Republican nominations, becoming the two major parties' presumptive presidential nominees.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan speaks with Fox News in Manchester, New Hampshire, on July 11, 2022. (Fox News - Paul Steinhauser)
The moves by No Labels come after former two-term Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a former leader of the group who was considered a potential contender for the "unity" ticket, recently took his name out of contention as he announced a run this year for an open Senate seat in his home state.
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And moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, another former No Labels leader who is not seeking re-election this year and who flirted with a White House run, has also said he won't launch a presidential bid.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has also said he won't launch a presidential bid. (Getty Images)
There was also plenty of speculation that former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was the final 2024 GOP presidential nomination rival to Trump before she ended her White House run last week, would consider running on a No Labels ticket. No Labels had expressed interest in her earlier this year.
But Haley repeatedly nixed joining a No Labels ticket, most recently last week in an interview on "FOX and Friends."
"What I will tell you is I’m a conservative Republican. I have said many, many times, I would not run as an independent. I would not run as No Labels, because I am a Republican, and that’s who I’ve always been," Haley reiterated.
The No Labels spotlight now appears to be shining on Duncan, a former health care executive and minor league baseball player who served three terms in the Georgia House of Representatives before winning election as lieutenant governor in 2018.
Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan of Georgia holds the inaugural event for his GOP 2.0 initiative at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics on Oct. 19, 2021. (Fox News - Paul Steinhauser )
People familiar with the discussions confirmed to Fox News that No Labels "is talking to him," adding that conversations are "moving fast" and "nothing's set."
A source in Duncan's political orbit said he hasn't ruled anything out when it comes to a potential third-party presidential run this year. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Duncan grabbed national attention in the weeks after the 2020 election for speaking out against then-President Trump’s unfounded claims of "massive voter fraud" in Georgia, which was one of a half-dozen states where Biden narrowly edged Trump to win the White House.
Duncan, along with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both Republicans, resisted Trump’s requests to overturn the election results in the Peach State.
But Duncan's public pushback in national interviews against Trump led to threats against him and his wife, which necessitated protection by state troopers, he said in 2021.
Duncan decided months later against seeking re-election in 2022 and instead launched "GOP 2.0," an effort to try and move the Republican Party past Trump.
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No Labels said last week that it is already on the ballot in 16 states and currently working in 17 other states to obtain access.
There's been a chorus of calls from Democrats warning that a No Labels ticket would pave a path to victory for Trump in November, but the group dismisses that criticism.
"That's not our goal here," Lieberman told Fox News Digital late last year. "We're not about electing either President Trump or President Biden."
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