A prominent former Democratic leader is launching a group to lobby against a possible third-party run that could hinder President Biden’s re-election bid, according to a report.
Former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt will head a new bipartisan group in direct opposition to No Labels — a centrist group that touts a $70 million plan to back a “unity” presidential candidate for 2024. The group’s imminent launch was reported Wednesday by the Washington Post, which obtained private polling from Gephardt’s group that showed a moderate third-party candidate would damage President Biden’s support more than former President Trump in a hypothetical three-way race.
“No Labels equals Trump,” Greg Schneiders, who helped conduct the polling for the Gephardt group, told the Washington Post. “It is going to affect the race, and it is going to affect it negatively for Biden, and it is probably going to elect Donald Trump.”
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Other leaders involved with the group, the Post reported, are former Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., and Stuart Stevens, who worked on the presidential campaigns of Bob Dole, George W. Bush and Mitt Romney.
The Gephardt group did not respond to a request for comment.
No Labels has spearheaded the push for a moderate, third-party candidate, and is rumored to be pursuing Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and former Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan as possible candidates. The group has said it would not directly fund the candidate, but has raised outside funds to boost momentum for a potential run and push for state ballot access.
The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in Congress was founded by No Labels. Former Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who ran in Connecticut as both a Democrat and Independent, is a founding chairman of No Labels.
Several Democratic members of the caucus have turned on the group over its push for a third-party candidate in 2024.
“No Labels is wasting time, energy and money on a bizarre effort that confuses and divides voters, and has one obvious outcome – re-electing Donald Trump as president,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., said in May.
Center-left advocacy group Third Way previously confirmed to Fox News Digital it will meet with the chiefs of staff to Democratic senators on July 27, along with liberal group MoveOn, to discuss the potential harms of a well-funded third-party presidential run.
Manchin, who would face a tight re-election race in 2024, has not ruled out a presidential run.
