What Was Won in No Labels’ Crusade

Earlier this month, No Labels’ effort to offer a third choice for president in 2024 came to an end. It was an audacious idea from the beginning. We knew defenders of broken Washington would rage against us; their economic model demands it. But we did it anyway because we knew that a vast majority of voters wanted it, and giving voice to those voters is the only way to bring common sense back to our politics, something that is so desperately needed.

The center of the Democratic Party is lost

I spent many years attempting to hold up and advance the center of the Democratic Party. I’m here to tell you, that war is lost. The left defines the party today, and it is their votes and their votes alone that Democratic policies and positions are intended to attract.

D.C. insiders like to say, “But Joe Biden is a moderate.” That may be, but what we learned (again) with the now infamous Easter Sunday Trans Recognition letter is that what President Biden thinks and what his White House does might be two different things. After 2020, centrist Democrats I worked with (before they folded and aligned with anti-Israel and cop-hating extremists) would say, “We won the election and lost the White House.”

Where is the proof of what I am saying? It is in more than just the left-wing policies of this administration. It is also in every single poll that has President Trump within range or potentially winning reelection. Given all he has put our nation through, the question to be asked is not “How could so many millions of Americans still support him?” It is, “Why are so many voters – who are working hard and playing by the rules – so resistant to voting for the Democrats?”

“Too dangerous!” say the Democratic Party elite

When No Labels attempted to answer the people’s call for a common-sense alternative in this election, a small patriarchal group of elites decided it was too “dangerous” for the American voters to get what they were asking for. Instead, they took it upon themselves to deploy undemocratic tactics to crush competition and personally intimidate anyone who disagreed with them.

But as usual, they are not reading the room. The message they sent outside of the Beltway is that there is no force left in the Democratic Party willing to acknowledge centrist voters, let alone stand up for them. In their fervor to maintain their K Street turf and be accepted into the inner sanctum of progressive power, they gave up any definition they may have once had.

No Labels stands for the center

Alternatively, No Labels emerges stronger than ever. What D.C. insiders don’t see is the message that was blasted around the country: that a small fearless group of rebels were willing to risk all to challenge what everyone knows is a broken system and a sad and depressing choice for president. More than 1.3 million Americans signed up to put us on the ballot in their state and tens of thousands of regular citizens entered the political arena for the first time to be a part of what we are building. They understood from the beginning that our strategy for ’24 was a long shot, but we gave them what no one else ever had: a way to engage and have their voices heard that didn’t require them to align with extremists and zealots.

The political center has never been able to quantify and communicate directly with their voters until now. No Labels invested in capabilities that will enable us to continue the conversation and potentially activate the 80 million voters we have identified and established contact with. By being willing to fight on their behalf, against all odds, we have earned their trust.

Summary

No Labels and the common-sense majority voters we represent now define the center of American politics. Our commitment to those voters is that we will use the two things that allowed us to break through in this bleak political season – innovation and agility – to continue to fight for them. We will not rest until Washington understands and speaks to our voters the way they currently do with the loud and extreme minorities on the right and left.

The views expressed in this essay are the author’s own and do not represent those of CNAV. – Ed.