‘No Labels’ Chief Expresses Interest In Haley Joining Ticket

 No Labels would “definitely be interested” in Nikki Haley for a third-party run for the presidency, a leader of the group said on Sunday.

Joe Cunningham, the national director of No Labels and a former Democratic congressman from South Carolina, entertained the idea during an interview on “FOX & Friends Sunday” after Haley faced another primary defeat to former President Donald Trump but refused to drop out.

“This has been a project to essentially give Americans another choice. If they’re unhappy with the presumptive nominees, which, you know, it appears it’s going to be Trump versus [President Joe] Biden right now, but we don’t know. Nikki Haley, she’s going to remain in the race. You can’t count her out completely,” Cunningham said.

“And hats off to her for staying in and for sticking with it,” he added. “But we’re looking for great quality people, folks that have broad appeal to independents, Democrats, Republicans. And, yes, I mean, Nikki Haley is somebody we’d definitely be interested in.”

No Labels is an organization touting an “insurance project” in the form of a “Unity ticket,” citing polls that show broad dissatisfaction among voters when considering the prospect of a 2020 rematch between Biden and Trump.

On its website, No Labels says it is “not considering” any candidates right now, as it is focused on ballot access in states across the country, and says the group will not make a decision about whether to offer a ballot line to a “Unity ticket” until “shortly” after March 15 — which is ten days after Super Tuesday.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) had been speculated to be mulling a potential run with No Labels, but he announced earlier this month that he would not campaign for the White House. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), a longshot candidate for the Democratic Party’s nomination, has expressed openness to joining the ticket — as Haley’s running mate.

Following Haley’s defeat on Saturday in South Carolina, where she served as governor before a stint as Trump’s U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the candidate told supporters she was not ready to bow out of the race.

 

“I’m not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. South Carolina has spoken,” Haley said. “We’re the fourth state to do so. In the next ten days, another 21 states and territories will speak. They have the right to a real choice. Not a Soviet-style election with only one candidate. And I have a duty to give them that choice.”

With the completion of contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, the Virgin Islands and South Carolina, Trump has 107 delegates while Haley has 17. A candidate requires 1,215 delegates to win the nomination.