Former Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-Independent who is the founding chairman of No Labels, told Fox News it may be several months before the group decides whether to run a third-party candidate, but underlined his belief the American people are fed up with President Biden and Donald Trump.
Lieberman, who was former Vice President Al Gore’s running mate in the 2000 presidential election – one of a handful of races throughout U.S. history that third party nominees purportedly played a role in swinging the ultimate result – told “Your World” that there is mass dissatisfaction with the two established parties.
To those who are dissatisfied with Democrats and Republicans but believe a third-party vote is a wasted one, Lieberman has a message.
“The best way to change that and try to get two parties to come back from the left and right toward the center and common ground and try to solve our problems is to support (1) the policy agenda we put out yesterday, which is bipartisan. It’s not about us and them. It’s about we, the people,” he said Tuesday on “Your World with Neil Cavuto.”
Lieberman also broke with Democrats – who he still caucused with — in 2008 to endorse then-Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., over then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for president.
When asked if No Labels would “stand-down” if the 2024 race shapes up differently than a Biden-Trump rematch, Lieberman was noncommittal:
“It depends,” he said. “And incidentally, that’s why we say that the effort we’re making now to get on the ballot of all 50 states with the third line is an insurance policy, like any insurance policy, you hope you don’t have to use it, but it’s there if you do.”
Scarborough suggested a third-party Manchin run would ruin Biden’s reelection chances.
On “Your World,” host Neil Cavuto laid out how several races – including Gore’s and Lieberman’s – were affected by third-party bids. In their case, Green Party nominee Ralph Nader was accused of siphoning left-leaning votes in Florida enough to secure Bush’s thin victory there.
Other political figures who have been associated with No Labels include former North Carolina Republican Gov. Patrick McCrory, former Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and former NAACP Chair Benjamin Franklin Chavis.
McCrory told NBC News this week that he plans to vote in the GOP primary, but that neither party is currently “speaking to the majority of the American people.”