'We need options:' Joe Manchin flirts with third-party bid against Joe Biden, Donald Trump

WASHINGTON – West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin flirted Monday with the possibility of an independent presidential campaign on the "No Labels" ticket, even as other Democrats warned a third-party bid can only help Donald Trump retake the presidency.

"The political parties have not delivered," Manchin said told a New Hampshire town hall sponsored by No Labels, a bipartisan political organization that is seeking to get on presidential ballots in all 50 states.

Manchin, who has clashed with President Joe Biden on federal spending and other issues, said he has not decided whether to take the plunge.

"Let's see what happens," he said. "It's too early."

'A dangerous thing to do'

While No Labels officials said their candidate would take votes from both parties, members of those parties believe the ticket would cut more into Biden's totals and promote Trump's reelection.

"This is a dangerous thing to do," said former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., who has helped start a political action committee to oppose the No Labels presidential campaign.

Gephardt and others also pointed out that No Labels does not disclose the names of its financial backers.

'We need options'

Manchin and other members of No Labels, founded in 2010, said they oppose the hyperpartisan environment in which the most conservative and most liberal voices get heard. The organization was founded in 2010.

"We need options," Manchin said during the town hall at Saint Anselm College, which is near Manchester, New Hampshire. He said Democrats have moved too far to the left and Republicans too far to the right.

Manchin also criticized Trump over his repeated protests of the 2020 election and over the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.

The senator also faces a tough Senate reelection bid next year in increasingly Republican West Virginia.

'The definition of insanity'?

Former Utah governor and former ambassador to China and to Russia, Jon Huntsman, a Republican who appeared with Manchin at the town hall, dismissed criticism of a possible No Labels presidential bid by saying the parties are just using "talking points."

Huntsman, who is mentioned as a possible No Labels running mate, indicated he's not interested in running for the top spot. He joked that "everybody wants to know what Joe's doing."

The Republican also said voters aren't crazy about the possibility that the parties may again nominate Biden and Trump: "Is that the definition of insanity or what?"

Freedom from anger

On its website, No Labels said it wants candidates who can "declare their freedom from the anger and divisiveness that are ruining our politics and most importantly, our country."

Among the issues raised during the town hall: A balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, reduced federal debt, entitlement reform, climate change legislation, school safety, mental health, political polarization, and legislation to end the influence of "dark money" in American politics.

'An opportunity to win'

The town hall and the No Labels groups also feature prominent Democrats and Republicans who have increasingly become critical of their parties.

Former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democrats' vice presidential nominee in 2000 and also a supporter of Republican candidate John McCain in 2008, told the town hall that No Labels wants to influence the nation's political agenda.

Pat McCrory, a Republican and former governor of North Carolina, told the New Hampshire town hall that No Labels would back a presidential candidate only if they see that "we have an opportunity to win."

'It would take a lot more from Biden'

Many Democrats and Republicans say No Labels has no chance to elect its own president, only a chance to reelect Trump.

They cited a number of polls showing that a third party of self-proclaimed moderates would take more votes from Biden than Trump – enough to possibly make a difference in key Electoral College states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Hours before the No Labels town hall, Gephardt and allies announced formation of a bipartisan political action committee called Citizens to Save Our Republic.

In its announcement, the group said "we are calling on No Labels to abandon its effort to nominate a third-party candidate," especially as it becomes obvious that the Republicans will renominate Trump.

Gephardt, a former Democratic presidential candidate himself, said No Labels is wrong in saying they would draw votes equally from both parties.

"It would take a lot more from Biden than from Trump," he said, "and ensure Trump's victory."

Third Way, a center-left think tank based in Washington, D.C., said in a polling memo that "double-haters" – voters who don't like Democrats or Republicans – generally went with Biden in his 2020 one-on-one win over Trump.

"An April 2023 poll found that Biden leads Trump by a whopping 39 points among voters who disapprove of both presidencies," the memo said. "Giving them a third-party choice clearly helps the GOP."

Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, said that, in the absence of a third big-name candidate, "the people who don't like either party – the 'double haters' – break toward Biden."

'A waste of time?'

The New Hampshire Democratic Party also weighed in on the No Labels town hall, calling it a "waste of time and effort."

State party chair Ray Buckley noted that No Labels does not disclose the names of donors and claimed that there are news reports that they include some Trump supporters.

"They don't' want anyone to know what this truly is," he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Options:' Joe Manchin flirts with third-party bid versus Biden, Trump