Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was almost the face of No Labels’ third-party candidate attempt, but the group ultimately couldn’t find him a running mate.
The group called its 2024 ballot effort quits earlier this month, but Dan Webb — the lawyer in charge of the group’s vetting process — told The Chicago Sun-Times that Mr. Christie “suddenly signaled late last month he would run if we secured him a Democrat as a running mate.”
He said the unity ticket came “this close” to launching a few weeks ago.
Mr. Christie dropped out of the Republican presidential race in January. At first, he said he wasn’t interested in joining a No Labels ticket, but later changed his mind and started signaling that he would be into it as a way to keep former President Donald Trump out of the White House.
He posted a statement in late March saying, “If there is not a pathway to win and if my candidacy in any way, shape or form would help Donald Trump become president again, then it is not the way forward.”
“We needed a Republican on top of the ticket to beat Trump! Then Chris [Christie] signaled he was ready to run with ONE condition,” Mr. Webb told columnist Michael Sneed. “Finding a Democrat to run as Christie’s ‘unity’ vice president.”
“But it didn’t work. We failed. We couldn’t do it. We needed a unity ticket, and no Democrat would run, because they were afraid of leaving the party and never going back!” he said. “When that shutdown, Chris pulled the plug. He felt he would not be able to capture the attention of the American public without a unity ticket.”
During his run for the GOP nomination, Mr. Christie was Mr. Trump’s harshest critic. When he dropped out of the race, he called the former president “unfit” to return to the White House, and that anyone who can’t admit he’s unfit shouldn’t be president either.
Mr. Webb called Mr. Christie “the only Republican who ran in the presidential primary who agreed to tell the truth and attack Trump.”
No Labels had struggled for months to get someone to join its ticket. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination in March, also shutdown any consideration of running with No Labels.
Others who have turned the group down include Sen. Joe Manchin III, West Virginia Democrat, former Georgia Lt. Gov. and anti-Trump Republican Geoff Duncan, and former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.
Mr. Hogan teased a run with No Labels but then stepped down from the group’s leadership in January. He later jumped into the race for an open Senate seat in Maryland.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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