(WASHINGTON) — Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan now says that he will not join No Labels’ potential third-party “unity” ticket in the 2024 presidential race.
“After careful deliberation, I have withdrawn my name from consideration for the No Labels presidential ticket,” Duncan said in a statement to ABC News on Monday. “It was an honor to be approached, and I am grateful to all those who are engaged in good-faith efforts to offer Americans a better choice than the Trump vs. Biden re-match.”
“In addition to my private sector career and earning a living for my family of five, I am focused on healing and improving the Republican Party with a GOP 2.0 so we can elect more common-sense conservative candidates in the future,” Duncan said.
ABC News reported earlier this month that, according to sources familiar with the group’s efforts, No Labels representatives have had meetings with Duncan about running as their presidential candidate.
Duncan served as Georgia’s lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2023. While he is a conservative Republican, he has been sharply critical of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which were focused, in part, on Georgia.
In January, Duncan wrote an op-ed in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution explaining why he would not support Trump for president in November.
“So now the uncomfortable part: admitting to your neighbors the ends don’t justify the means any longer,” he wrote. “Trump has become incapable of leading in a respectable or mature way. Until more of us are willing to acknowledge that hard truth, we will be on the outside looking in.”
On March 8, No Labels voted to move forward with its effort to field a bipartisan challenge to the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees, President Joe Biden and Trump, with the group repeatedly citing polls that had suggested many people didn’t watch a rematch of the two.
With that decision in early March, No Labels entered a second phase of their process, nominating a “Country Over Party Committee” that is tasked to find their candidates. Once those people are chosen, No Labels will reconvene at a future date to present the ticket to their delegates for approval.
No Labels leadership has rejected criticism that they will spoil the 2024 election by running a third-party option.
“We will never fuel a spoiler candidate,” No Labels’ chief strategist, Ryan Clancy, previously said. “We don’t want to fuel any sort of candidacy that’s pulling more votes from one side.”
There is also a chance No Labels could decide to scrap all of its plans. While the group suggests that they have been talking to “exceptional leaders,” that list of potential contenders has dwindled as Election Day nears.
The group is on the ballot in 17 states — including three swing states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah.
No Labels previously claimed that it would be on the ballot in 34 states by the end of 2023.
Now, the group says it will attempt to get on the ballot in 33 states by the time a candidate is announced. The ticket would be responsible for the remainder of the states.
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