Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said in an interview Sunday that he would not join the No Labels’ third-party movement, saying, “I think it’s a fool’s errand.”
“I’m not in this for showtime. I’m not in this for making a point. I’m in this to get elected president of the United States, and there are only two people who will get elected president of the United States: the Republican nominee for president and the Democratic nominee for president,” Christie said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.”
“I don’t want to participate in something, which also, by the way, is also a scattergun approach to this,” the former New Jersey governor added.
The No Labels movement has garnered attention in the last several months, as it claims to represent the “commonsense majority,” and describes itself as “a national movement of people who believe in America and in bringing our leaders together to solve our toughest problems.”
No Labels has toyed with the idea of creating a separate “unity ticket” to enter the 2024 presidential race, and speculation has surfaced that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) might be favored at the top of the ticket. Manchin is up for reelection in 2024, but he has not announced his reelection campaign.
While No Labels frequently attracts politicians who describe themselves as centrist, and who frequently criticize their respective party’s leaders, Christie on Sunday sharply criticized the group’s mission, noting third-party attempts at the White House historically have backfired or, at least, been unsuccessful.
“They think they know who they’re going to hurt. They want to hurt Donald Trump if he’s the nominee. But, you know, when you get into a third-party campaign – we saw this with Ross Perot, we saw this later with Ralph Nader – You never quite know who you’re going to hurt in that process,” Christie said.