No Labels, the supposed “centrist,” anti-Trump political group, showed a glimpse of its true colors a few weeks ago when they indicated that they’d really like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to get the Republican nomination for president. If it were DeSantis, they suggested, they’d reconsider running a third-party candidate. It seems he’s their fascist of choice, and possibly not by chance.
It turns out the group hired the same Colorado signature collecting firm, Blitz Canvassing, as DeSantis in its bid to qualify to field a candidate on the Colorado ballot in 2024. Mother Jones’ David Corn first reported the tie; Politico and the Colorado Times Reporter followed up, reporting that No Labels is using Colorado Republicans’ “favorite canvassing firm.” The company is “owned by former GOP state senator turned longtime GOP operative Josh Penry, [and] has handled field operations for nearly every major Republican candidate in Colorado for the past decade.”
No Labels’ affiliated dark money group, Insurance Policy for America, paid the firm $107,000 last year and succeeded in getting on the ballot. Politico picks up the story, reporting that DeSantis paid more than $8 million to the firm last year for its work in several states. He’s the highest-profile candidate the company has worked for. Blitz is currently recruiting canvassers for the super PAC backing him in Iowa and South Carolina.
Corn previously reported on another right-wing campaign vendor No Labels uses: an online fundraising platform called Anedot, which is similar to ActBlue or WinRed. Other Anedot clients include: “Focus on the Family, the Susan B. Anthony List [a prominent foe of reproductive rights], the Thomas More Society [a conservative Catholic group that supported Trump’s election deniers], the Reformed Theological Seminary [which is ‘committed to the Bible as God’s inerrant Word’], and the International Alliance for Christian Education.”
No Labels doesn’t just pay the far-right vendors like any other Republican organization would, it acts like the GOP. It was caught deceiving voters in Maine, telling them they were signing a petition to get No Labels on the next ballot when they were actually signing forms that changed their registration to No Labels. The Democratic Party in Arizona sued to keep No Labels off the ballot there, alleging that the group didn’t have the required signatures to qualify by the deadline and continued to backfill petitions with new signatures well after that deadline.
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There’s also the little problem that the group is registered as a “charitable organization” and as such is prohibited from directly fielding candidates. It can run “issue ads” that talk about various candidates’ positions, but legally, it can’t support a candidate, much less run one for president under its current status. Again, a little legality like that isn’t going to stop any bunch of Republicans, which is clearly what No Labels is.
From its wealthy, corporate Republican donors to its underhanded political tactics, there’s little question that they are Republicans in sheep’s clothing, clearly prepared to do anything to keep any Democrat who isn’t Joe Manchin out of the White House.