In 2024, No Labels abandoned plans to field a presidential unity ticket. Now, the centrist political group is focusing on local politics.

Washington

Ryan Clancy, chief strategist for the centrist political group No Labels, discussed the organization's current focus and future during an interview. Clancy noted that No Labels, which previously considered running a unity ticket in the 2024 presidential election, is now concentrating on fostering bipartisan cooperation in Congress, particularly in response to the ongoing government shutdown.

Clancy emphasized the challenges posed by political incentives that favor partisanship over bipartisanship, stating that the shutdown is a result of these dynamics. He also pointed to a growing number of Americans, especially younger voters, identifying as independents and suggested that continued dysfunction in the two-party system could create space for independent movements in the future.

No Labels chief strategist discusses centrist political group's future

Welcome back to The Takeout. You remember No Labels, it didn't have anything to do with clothes, it was about political branding. It was an organization that for a bit of time flirted with running a so-called unity ticket in 2024 for president. Some prominent names considered, Larry Hogan, Joe Manchin, the late Joe Lieberman. Now the group is weighing in on everything from local politics to the government shutdown. Chief Strategist for No Labels, Ryan Clancy, joins me now from our broadcast center in New York. Ryan, good to see you. Thanks for joining us. You said in August that the government shutdown was inevitable, if not irreversible. We're in it now. Do you see any end in sight? Not immediately. Unfortunately, both sides would rather posture than actually get out of this. And every day that this goes on is really just an insult to the public and to a couple million federal workers that do not need to be out of work. And Ryan, No Labels talks a great deal about the incentive structures in politics that disvalue or undervalue or actually penalize bipartisanship and elevate and monetize partisanship. The shutdown seems to me to be a classic representation of that. Well, ask yourself, what is it that we need to get out of a shutdown? And you need 60 votes in the Senate to get a funding bill over the finish line. So you need bipartisanship. When this ends, and it will, that's how it's going to end. But ask yourself, what forces in our political system today are going to reward that kind of behavior? Is it the party committees? Is it social media? Is it the email marketing campaigns that get $5 a pop just by spurring outrage? So unfortunately, the thing we need to get a shutdown is for actually leaders to resist all these forces that are rewarding them and encouraging them to continue with this shutdown. How does No Labels fit into that conversation? Well, you mentioned earlier how we explored the unity ticket last time and in 2024. That was actually a bit of a departure for us. We've spent 15 years mostly focused on Congress, trying to get Democrats and Republicans to find some space to work together. And that is very much where we're focused now. So we actually have a lot of our allies in the House and the Senate back channeling, trying to create the foundation for some kind of agreement to get us out of this. How deep is that back channel, Ryan? Well, right now, unfortunately, all the action is at the leadership level. The leadership has to show a willingness to want to move us off this. And as you know, Major, the argument is caught up in a lot of things. It's about health care. It's about the left's desire to stand up to Trump. It's about the right's desire to stick it to the left. There are both policy and political disagreements underpinning this. What we need is some leaders to come to the table and untangle it. And Ryan, I know you believe that there is a hunger in the American populace writ large for alternatives to the two parties. Polling data about people who self-identify as independents continues to increase in number, but it doesn't appear to have any operational teeth. So I don't think that can continue. There was a famous statement, I think it was Richard Nixon's economist said, if something can't go on forever, it won't. This cannot go on forever, where the parties are this far from what the midpoint of the electorate wants. The public just will not tolerate this level of dysfunction over time. So in 2024, you know, there wasn't space in that race for an independent candidate or an independent movement. But if this continues, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a space for that in the future. Because right now, you mentioned it, Major, that more and more people every day are rejecting both parties. The share of political independence is higher than it's ever been. Among Gen Z voters, well over half of them say they don't see themselves in either party. Brian Clancy, it's a conversation I want to continue to have with you. I hope we'll do it again. Thank you, Major.

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Breakdown