Why No Labels won’t field a 2024 candidate

“Politically Georgia” talks to Geoff Duncan, who was courted by the party.
FILE - People with the group No Labels hold signs during a rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 13, 2013. The No Labels group says it won't field a presidential candidate in November after strategists for the bipartisan organization were unable to attract a candidate willing to seize on the widespread dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden and Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

FILE - People with the group No Labels hold signs during a rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 13, 2013. The No Labels group says it won't field a presidential candidate in November after strategists for the bipartisan organization were unable to attract a candidate willing to seize on the widespread dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden and Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Former Georgia Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan told Politically Georgia Friday that the decision by No Labels to stay out of the presidential race this year has left him and many Americans with “no candidate to vote for.”

Duncan had talked with No Labels about running but decided against it. He has consistently said he will not vote for Donald Trump or Joe Biden.

“Seventy percent of the voters don’t like the current selection they’ve got,” he said. But he said the two-party system is just too hard to overcome.

Still, he said the effort to build a bipartisan approach to governing is likely to grow.

“I feel like we’re at that moment where either the parties need to correct their paths, and that certainly doesn’t feel like that’s going to happen in the 2024 cycle, or else there’s going to be continued energy behind some sort of third -party effort going forward.”

The bipartisan organization said in a statement Thursday that it had found no candidate with a credible path to winning.

Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan. (Hyosub Shin/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS)

Credit: TNS

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Credit: TNS

Before Thursday’s announcement, No Labels had hoped to field a “unity ticket” for 2024.

Party leaders planned on selecting a presidential candidate from one major party and a vice presidential candidate from the other.

The organization had gained ballot access in dozens of states, but a spokesperson confirmed that Georgia was not one of those states.

No Label’s announcement also came after the death of its founding chairman, former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman.

Duncan met with Lieberman when he was considering a run. He said meeting Liberman was a great honor, adding, " Every room he walked into, he didn’t have to explain his operating style. It was known, it was understood.”

Monday on “Politically Georgia”: Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz joins the show.