No Labels unity ticket intends to secure spot on Michigan presidential ballot

Washington ― Former U.S. Rep. Fred Upton is hoping to see a Republican head a bipartisan third-party ticket for president next year, but no, he won’t be that Republican, he said.

“My hand is not up in the air on this,” the St. Joseph Republican told reporters on a recent call. "I'm a pure volunteer on this."

Upton, a leading advocate for the No Labels independent presidential ticket effort, said he would prefer to see a Republican leading that ticket with a Democratic vice presidential nominee.

“This is not necessarily speaking for No Labels, but I am of the belief that a Republican at the top of the ticket will draw more from (former President Donald) Trump than if it was in reverse,” Upton said. “And it helps counter the argument that, like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee claims, that we're going to just elect Trump.”

Upton and others stressed that No Labels is planning to compete in every state, with the group’s polling showing that many Americans don’t want a rematch of Trump and President Joe Biden in 2024, they said.

No Labels plans to actually be on the ballot in 34 states, while in the remaining 16 states including Michigan and in the District of Columbia, getting on the ballot will be pursued by the group’s eventual nominee.

This is either because the state requires that the candidate do so, or because the threshold is much lower for a third-party candidate to do so, said Ryan Clancy, chief strategist for No Labels.

No Labels now intends to choose a nominee not at a convention as initially planned but through a virtual process next year that will “feature a lot of input from our community across the country,” Clancy said.

In Michigan, that No Labels nominee would begin collecting signatures to get on the ballot starting in May, said former Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat.

“No Labels is not going to run the campaign. We're just doing ballot access,” Upton said.

Critics including top Democratic officials have argued that the No Labels effort will benefit Trump and hurt Biden’s chances of reelection to a second term.

“Let’s not be fooled, No Labels is nothing more than a right-wing funded plot to elect Trump,” said Tommy Kubitschek, spokesperson for the Michigan Democratic Party.

“We’re not going to be distracted by this noise. We are focused on building a coalition that will deliver Michigan for Democrats up and down the ballot so we can continue to fight for Michiganders and hold MAGA Republicans accountable for their extremism.”

No Labels leaders reject this idea.

“We're not here to be spoilers. We're here to win, and so the goal is not, ‘Does this hurt Trump?’ or ‘Does this hurt Biden?’” Nixon said. “The goal is to win, and so that's the framework with which the analysis is going on.”

Clancy referenced polling the group did over the summer that showed that a Republican on the top of an independent ticket had a “better absolute performance.” That is, the Republican was pulling more from Trump's column than it was from Biden, Clancy said.

Some of the possible GOP contenders floated for that No Labels ticket include former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, among others.

“The last thing that Fred Upton wants to do is to be part of an effort that would reelect Donald Trump to be our 47th president,” said Upton, who was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump.

“We can do better. We can do a lot better, and that's where a unity ticket really comes into play where you'd have a Republican and a Democrat for the first time (running) together. … We need Washington to perform to reach across the aisle to get things done.”

Nixon and Pat McCrory, a former Republican governor of North Carolina, will be speaking about the No Labels initiative on Wednesday at a lunchtime meeting of the Detroit Economic Club at MotorCity Casino in Detroit.

mburke@detroitnews.com