Former Maryland governor and No Labels national co-chairman Larry Hogan (R) says the organization will likely launch a third-party “alternative” if former President Trump and President Biden win the nominations for their parties.
During CNN's “State of the Union” the former Republican governor said No Labels has an “obligation” to give the American people another option beyond the two senior politicians.
“But if Trump and Biden are the nominees, it's very likely that No Labels will get access to the ballot and offer an alternative,” Hogan said.” “And if most of the voters don't want A or B, we have an obligation to give them C, I mean, for the good of the country.”
Hogan also noted that an overwhelming majority of the country's people are “not interested” in voting for the Republican or Democrat nominee.
“It's an overwhelming majority of people who are completely fed up with politics,” Hogan said. “They think Washington is broken. And so, even though this normally is not something that we consider and talk about seriously, because it hasn't happened in the past, this is something that could happen,” noting that it is still a “long way off.”
David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Obama, pushed back against Hogan's proposal Sunday and argued that a No Labels candidate would only hurt Biden and help Trump.
However, Hogan disagreed and said the third-party candidate would “pull just as many votes from Donald Trump as Joe Biden.”
“I love Larry Hogan, but that's just not true,” Axelrod responded. “I think that broken glass will be the jagged edge that cuts the throat of the Biden campaign. History shows that. Trump has a high floor and a low ceiling. If you lower the ceiling to where his … high floor is good enough to win, he will win. And he benefited from third parties in 2016. This would be a dreadful mistake if the goal is to deprive Donald Trump of the presidency.” Axelrod called it the former president's “hope” and “prayer.”
Last month, No Labels founder and CEO Nancy Jacobson said that the group will end its third-party push if the results are aiding former President Donald Trump. (RELATED: No Labels Founder Pledges To End Third-Party Effort If It Aids Trump)
“We will not spoil for either side. The only reason to do this is to win,” she added.
“We've said from the beginning, all of our lawyers have said, we're not going to offer our ballot line if it looks like it's going to be a waste of votes at all,” she said.
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