No Labels duped me. I won’t let them dupe America

When I first came to Congress, I was enamored with the alleged ideal behind No Labels and their mission to take partisanship out of politics. A world where people can work together on ideas that help the American people despite ideological differences. 

Boy was I wrong. 

Their non-partisan agenda is and always has been dishonest. My first disagreement with No Labels came when I realized they were only looking out for megadonor special interests, advocating for lowering taxes on the rich and powerful, and weakening regulations for big business, making it easier for them to exploit workers or the environment. 

After a short while, I became concerned about who was funding them. One day, I called them to ask, and they told me they would “quietly remove me from their membership rolls.” I told them, “I don’t do anything quietly.”

I left the organization and the Problem Solvers Caucus. Then No Labels got involved in electoral politics. In 2014, they endorsed Republican Cory Gardner for Senate, despite the fact that he was challenging Mark Udall, the sitting Democratic senator from Colorado. So much for “no labels.”

Late last year, it was reported that the organization is rife with toxicity and corruption. No Labels is apparently taking a page out of the Donald Trump playbook.

Fast forward to today. 

No Labels is now working behind the scenes to recruit a “third-party” candidate for president if President Biden and Donald Trump are the two nominees. This is a recipe for disaster. 

Instead of staying out of the current presidential race, No Labels is setting up this scheme to be a spoiler in the 2024 presidential election to prevent Biden from being reelected. They are working behind the scenes to get Trump, an existential threat to our democracy, back into the White House.

They know what they’re doing. No Labels doesn’t want a president in the White House who stands up to corporate interests like Joe Biden. They want someone like Donald Trump who turns a blind eye to rules, regulations and laws. 

No Labels isn’t even hiding it anymore. They just announced they are on the ballot in 10 states, including Arizona and Nevada where President Biden won by a very narrow margin in 2020. 

No Labels knows that advocating for a third party is only going to take votes away from Joe Biden and attempts to give the electoral college victory to Donald Trump. 

Candidates like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) or former Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman will only take votes from Biden, not Trump. 

No Labels is doubling down on this anti-democratic approach. One of their billionaire donors is Harlan Crow — the same Harlan Crow who has been acting as Justice Clarence Thomas’s benefactor, taking him and his extreme MAGA wife, Virginia Thomas, on trips all over the country. 

Now why would major Republican donor Harlan Crow give money to No Labels for a third-party candidate? Because he understands it’s all just a ruse to get Donald Trump back into the White House. To cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans. To eliminate regulations for polluters. And to push for an extreme agenda. 

Reporting has only begun to scratch the surface of these anti-democratic plans from No Labels. But until they break through, we need to speak out. 

No Labels is counting on you and me to go along with their plan. They know many Americans are disillusioned with the two-party system and want to vote for someone other than a Democrat or Republican. But this is not the way to do it. This is sabotage in the most anti-democratic way. Don’t fall for their trap. Don’t be duped.

Mark Pocan is the chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, the Chair Emeritus of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and is a lifelong advocate for progressive causes. He is a small business owner and lives with his husband in the Town of Vermont, Wis.