Richard Gephardt, the former House Majority Leader from Missouri, expressed concerns on Monday that a third-party ticket from the organization “No Labels” could potentially divert votes away from President Joe Biden.
President Biden officially announced his reelection bid on April 25 through a video posted on social media. As he seeks the Democratic nomination, he faces competition from figures such as guru Marianne Williamson and activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. However, a Yahoo/YouGov poll conducted from February 23 to 27 indicated that 48% of Democrats were hesitant about Biden running for a second term due to concerns about his age.
“So the No Labels effort you just know from looking at all the polling information, including No Labels polling, would siphon so many votes away from Joe Biden and take them to Trump if those are the two candidates,” Gephardt, who also served as House Minority Leader, told “America’s Newsroom” co-hosts Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer. “That’s what it looks like. So this is not a good effort, this is a risky effort.”
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and former Republican Gov. John Huntsman of Utah headlined a No Labels event Monday, during which Manchin dodged a question about being the candidate on a No Labels ticket.
“The American people decide on who the candidate in the Republican Party will be and who the candidate in the Democratic Party will be,” Gephardt said. “I don’t know who is going to pick the No Labels candidate. They are talking about giving people a choice. I don’t know how that is a choice.”
Liberals have fretted that a Manchin third-party run could hand the 2024 election to Donald Trump. Manchin declined to endorse Biden for reelection in July 2022 while on a podcast with Chris Cuomo.
