A new political party called "No Labels" will be recognized as a political party and have its place on Arizona election ballots beginning with the 2024 Presidential Primary election.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes made the announcement in a tweet, saying that the No Labels Party exceeded the minimum signature requirement and thus qualifies as a new party for federal, statewide, and legislative races.
My statement regarding the No Labels Party 👇 pic.twitter.com/f11ZTbavOL
— Arizona Secretary of State (@AZSecretary) March 8, 2023
"A new party is a fool's errand. It's tilting windmills. It's not going to go anywhere in the state of Arizona," political consultant Stan Barnes said.
While Barnes believes No Labels has little chance of winning a presidential election, it can play the role of spoiler.
No Labels calls itself an independent Centrist Party. Democratic think-tank Third Wave says its emergence as a third party poses an extreme risk to President Biden in states like Arizona where support for Donald Trump remains strong.
The Replace Sinema PAC issued a statement saying a No Labels candidate for Senate could hurt Democrats trying to unseat Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema in 2024.
"It's going to end up splintering and leave a remaining plurality that is voters who are not the majority but who run the table because they're still the biggest block of voters on that table," Barnes said.
Political Consultant Chuck Coughlin sees value in a No Labels party running candidates in congressional and state races. But a national strategy, in Coughlin's view, is a problem.
"This is not the right way to go about this, because it will end up undermining one party or the other. depending on where you are," Coughlin said.
