As we vet third-party presidential candidates, No Labels has reached out to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
A political associate of Mr. Christie, a two-time Republican presidential candidate, told Fox News on Thursday that centrist groups have been lobbying Mr. Christie in recent days.
Christie ended his campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination in mid-January, but an interview with former Obama adviser David Axelrod published earlier in the day opened the door to a potential third-party candidacy. It seemed like it was left there.
Asked on Axelrod’s popular podcast if he would consider running for a third-party presidential bid, Christie said: “I think this country needs to go through what I went through.” I’m going to do everything I can to make sure I don’t have to go through that.” I think Trump’s second term will be a disaster. ”
No Label Takes Another Step Toward Launching Third-Party Presidential Tickets
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks at City Hall in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on December 13, 2023. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Christie, a former supporter, ally and adviser to Donald Trump, has been at loggerheads with Trump over the then-president’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Biden. We broke up. Mr. Christie has become a very vocal Republican critic of the former president and has made his opposition to Mr. Trump a centerpiece of his 2024 White House bid.
“We’re not ruling anything out at this point,” Christie said.
But he added: “Let’s just say there are a number of hurdles that need to be overcome before we can actually consider running as a third party.”
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Asked in an interview last summer, shortly after launching his second presidential campaign, if he would consider joining No Labels, Mr. Christie dismissed the idea: “I think it would be a fool’s errand.”
“I’m not in this activity for Showtime. I’m not in this activity to make a point. I’m not in this activity to get elected President of the United States.” “But only two people can be elected president of the United States: the Republican presidential candidate and the Democratic presidential candidate,” Christie said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” at the time. Told.
But former Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who was the party’s vice presidential candidate in 2000 and later became an independent and co-chairman of No Labels, said Christie had given up on running for the White House. Later, in January, he said in a radio interview that “that could happen to me.” “A very strong candidate for the group’s proposed unity ticket”
“I would like to reach out to him and see if Governor Christie has any interest in getting on the bipartisan No Labels Unity ticket this year. He could be a very strong candidate. There’s a gender,” Lieberman added on SiriusXM. Conversation with Michael Smerconish.
Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie announced he is withdrawing from the race on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, during a town hall campaign event in Windham, New Hampshire. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bucati)
Last week, No Labels took another step toward selecting a bipartisan presidential nominee by announcing the formation of a committee to vet potential bipartisan presidential candidates for the November general election. The commission’s announcement came a week after nearly 800 No Labels delegates who attended a virtual meeting voted in favor of taking the presidential ticket.
No Labels points to poll after poll showing that many Americans have no enthusiasm for a rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, and has been looking for third-party tickets for more than a year. I have continued to consider this.
Rematch: Trump, Biden, clinching Republican and Democratic presidential candidates
And No Labels has long said it would decide whether to sell presidential tickets after Super Tuesday, when primaries and caucuses are held in 16 states from coast to coast.
NoLabels’ latest move comes shortly after Biden and Trump confirmed the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations, making them the presumptive nominees of the two major parties in 2024.
No Labels leaders and guests, from left, Co-Executive Director Pat McCrory, Margaret White, National Co-Chair Dan Webb, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, and former Sen. Joe Lieberman, National Press Club will talk about the 2024 election. Washington, Thursday, January 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The move by No Labels comes as the group’s former leader, former two-term Republican Larry Hogan, who was seen as a likely candidate for a “unity” ticket, recently announced Republican policies. This also comes after his name was removed from the controversy. This year, he is running for a vacant Senate seat in his home state.
Another former No Label party leader, moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who is not seeking re-election this year and has flirted with a White House bid, also said he would not run for president.
Nikki Haley, a former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina governor who was Trump’s last rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination until she ended her White House campaign earlier this month, also won a non-label ticket. There was much speculation that he might consider running for office. Earlier this year, No Label showed no interest in her.
However, Hailey has repeatedly refused to participate in the no-label ticket, most recently in an interview on “FOX and Friends” earlier this month.
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No Labels spoke with Georgia’s former Republican lieutenant governor, Jeff Duncan, earlier this month. Duncan is a former health care executive and minor league baseball player who served three terms in the Georgia House of Representatives before being elected lieutenant governor in 2018.
Mr. Duncan, another highly vocal anti-Trump Republican, removed his name from contention earlier this week.
No Labels announced this week that it is already on the ballot in 18 states and is currently working to gain access in 16 other states.
The group has dismissed criticism from Democrats, who have warned that unlabeled tickets could pave the way for Trump to win in November.
“That’s not our goal here,” Lieberman told Fox News Digital late last year. “Ours is not a choice between President Trump and President Biden.”
Get the latest on the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more with Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
