Biden allies plot to thwart third party bids that threaten his
reelection
Send a link to a friend
[January 18, 2024]
By Jarrett Renshaw
CHEYENNE, Wyoming (Reuters) - American Bridge is the Democratic Party’s
primary opposition research organization, spending tens of millions of
dollars to track Republican rivals and produce attack ads.
But in 2024, the deep-pocketed ally of President Joe Biden is adding a
new role that could help shape the Nov. 5 presidential election:
third-party suppressor.
Worried that third-party bids from a centrist group called No Labels and
anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could siphon off votes from
Biden in key states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona, American
Bridge has hired prominent election attorney Marc Elias to help thwart
these outsider bids, among other things.
A central tactic employed: flagging technical issues or starting a legal
challenge as third-party candidates navigate a patchwork of laws of get
on state ballots.
"We're keeping an eye out to make sure they're dotting all their i's and
crossing their t's, and we are not ruling out legal action with our
attorneys if we identify a problem — and that applies for all third
party threats to President Biden," Pat Denis, president of the American
Bridge group, said in a statement to Reuters.
Other Biden allies have also launched a multi-pronged assault to starve
third party candidates of financial and political support. In addition
to trying to keep them off state ballots, they say they are asking
donors not to send them money and warning potential candidates to stay
on the sidelines, according to interviews with groups involved in the
efforts.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jan/18/images/ads/current/crossroadsantique_lda_010924.png)
U.S. demand for a third party presidential candidate has reached record
highs amid deep voter dissatisfaction with 81-year-old Biden and his
likely Republican rival Donald Trump. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in December
showed six in 10 respondents were unhappy with the two-party system and
want a third choice.
Polls show voters have deep concerns about Biden's age and the strength
of the economy as well as Trump's threats to upend democracy.
No Labels and Kennedy, two challengers who are not connected to each
other, have amassed among the most well-funded and well-organized
outsider bids in modern political history to test the major party
firewall, political experts say.
No Labels, which has yet to name a candidate, has already raised more
than $60 million and has qualified in 14 states, including Arizona,
Nevada and North Carolina - states that are likely help decide the
election. It's on the ground or has submitted petitions in at least 13
more and plans to spend about half of its cash on securing ballot access
across all 50 states.
"We are in a super unique time where voters from New York to Wyoming are
just fed up beyond belief with their options," Jane Hill, who worked in
former President Bill Clinton's administration and is the No Labels
co-chair in Wyoming, said as she went door-to-door in the city of
Cheyenne collecting signatures for the party.
Meanwhile, Kennedy and a Super PAC political organization supporting him
plan to spend a combined $30 million to get him on state ballots.
No third-party candidate has won a modern U.S. presidential election,
although some like Ralph Nader in 2000 and Ross Perot in 1992 have
played outsized roles as spoilers, taking votes from major party
candidates. Democrats fear their party may splinter this time with a
centrist third-party bid, while Trump's loyal base sticks with him.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll in December showed Trump's lead widened to a
5-point advantage nationally when respondents were given an option to
vote for Kennedy.
"They're very unlikely to win...But there is a real chance, a
substantial chance, that they will determine the winner in the fall,
which is why Democrats are apoplectic about them," University of
Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato said.
NO GOOD CHOICES
Matt Bennett, a co-founder of the center-left group Third Way, is among
the more prominent voices helping Democrats block third-party
candidates. The group has banded with progressive organization MoveOn
and others to dissuade voters from having any association with No
Labels.
"We've talked to donors, political insiders and potential candidates,
and our message to everyone is the same: there is no chance these third
party efforts are going to be successful, but they will help Donald
Trump win and that's a bad thing," Bennett said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jan/18/images/ads/current/castlemanor_sda_FINANCIAL_2017.png)
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/011824PIX/news_w20.jpg)
Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr., national co-chair of No Labels, and Tyler
Cymet, No Labels Maryland state co-chair, look on as a volunteer
from No Labels, a third-party political group, collects signatures
at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, to gather support
ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, in Baltimore,
Maryland, U.S., December 14, 2023. REUTERS/Bonnie Cash
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/May/02/images/ads/current/guzzardo_lda022609.png)
Those efforts are bankrolled by more than $1 million from Reid
Hoffman, the billionaire Democratic megadonor, Bennett said.
Richard Gephardt, a former Democratic congressman, formed a Super
PAC called "Citizens to Save Our Republic" to warn Americans against
supporting third-party candidates. He has raised $200,000 so far for
an information campaign.
"Sometimes in life, you don't get two good choices," Gephardt said.
"You don't even get one good choice. You get two choices you really
don't like but you got to make a choice. And that's what we're
trying to say to Americans. You may not like this choice, but don't
make a choice to put somebody back in office who tried to overthrow
the federal government."
Tony Lyons, the head of the pro-Kennedy Super PAC, said Americans
should be "outraged" by the lengths Democrats have gone to prevent
third-party bids.
"We live in a democracy, at least we are supposed to. How is it
possible, even legal, to keep spending millions to keep a candidate
off the ballot or tie them up in nonsense legal fights?" Lyons said.
'HAZING RITUAL'
Unlike Republicans and Democrats who are automatically on the
presidential ballots, outsider campaigns often face an uphill
challenge just to get on the ballot.
They need to spend millions to hand collect hundreds of thousands of
signatures from registered voters, line up officials called
electors, convince voters to formally ditch their parties in some
states and hold conventions in others.
"Some of these states haven't changed their laws in 100 years, you
know, and some have only have made them worse," said Theresa Amato,
former campaign manager for Ralph Nader, who ran for president in
2000 and 2004 but did not get on all 50 state ballots. "We really
have to ask ourselves, why do we allow two parties to enforce a
hazing ritual for all other competitors and political voices in the
United States?"
Reuters last month joined No Labels canvassers in Cheyenne, Wyoming,
as they collected signatures in person. They spent two months
collecting some 9,000 signatures - more than double the requirement
to get on the ballot - figuring many would get tossed due to an
unusual state law that purges voters from its rolls for not voting
in the last election.
In Maine, voters are required to officially switch parties if they
want to even just show support for a minor party petition. Some 800
people withdrew their support for No Labels after the secretary of
state, a Democrat, took the unusual step of writing to voters
informing them that they switched parties when they signed up to
back No Labels' bid to get on the ballot.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jan/18/images/ads/current/humanesociety_sda022411.png)
In Arizona, No Labels is in federal court to beat back efforts led
by Biden supporters to force the group to disclose its donors, as
some Democrats worry it is funded by conservative activists.
Barbara Wejnert, a political science professor at the University of
Buffalo, says most of the world’s democracies have adopted
parliamentary-style governments that embrace multiple parties.
"The U.S. is the most hostile democracy when it comes to third
parties," Wejnert said.
VOTERS WANT CHOICE
Interviews with more than two dozen voters who signed the No Labels
petitions to get on ballots in Wyoming and Maryland showed a strong
appetite for a third-party bid, but also highlighted the challenges
of actually winning an election.
Many voters themselves fear that supporting the effort will do
little other than drain votes from Biden or Trump - a concern borne
out by history.
Nader drained votes from Democrat Al Gore, helping hand the 2000
presidential election to Republican George W. Bush, while
businessman Ross Perot had the same impact on the 1992 reelection
campaign by Bush's father, George H.W. Bush.
"I am not happy with both parties, but I would not vote for a third
party if I thought it meant it would help Biden win, said Anthony
Gabriel, a 42-year old registered Republican from Cheyenne who
signed the petition.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Heather Timmons and Deepa
Babington)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |