No Labels is an ostensibly non-partisan advocacy group which attempts to foster bipartisan legislative efforts in government. No Labels considers itself an advocate for the “exhausted majority,” the supposedly two-thirds of Americans who do not have strong partisan loyalties toward the Republican or Democratic Parties. ¹

Most of the policies No Labels has advocated for are procedural reforms in Congress to limit the power of the majority party. The organization was founded by long-time Democratic operative Nancy Jacobson, but it has received substantial funding from Republican donors.

No Labels oversees numerous PACs and Super PACs: the No Labels Problem Solvers PAC, the No Labels Action PAC, United Together, Forward Not Back, Citizens for a Strong America, Govern Or Go Home, and United for Progress. ²

History

In 2010, Democratic operative Nancy Jacobson founded No Labels. Jacobson claimed that she was inspired to support political bipartisanship after observing the backlash received by President George H.W. Bush from his own party when he attempted to work with Congressional Democrats to balance the federal budget. ³ In the mid-2000s, she worked for the left-leaining think tank Third Way. Jacobson decided to establish her own nonprofit after the 2010 midterm elections when Tea Party-aligned Republicans won numerous Congressional elections, which Jacobson considered to be a radical ideological shift for the Republican Party. ⁴

Problem Solvers Caucus

In January 2017, No Labels helped Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) form the Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of 52 Congressmen and nine Senators, including 31 Republicans, 30 Democrats, and one Independent. ⁵

In August 2017, the Problem Solvers Caucus released a proposal to amend the proposed American Healthcare Act which included a government stabilizing fund to compensate insurance companies for rising costs imposed by pre-existing medical conditions, and the elimination of a medical device tax. The bill ultimately was not passed. ⁶

In November 2018, the Problem Solvers Caucus pressured then-House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) into accepting numerous rule changes which would grant more legislative influence to the minority party. ⁷

Mark Halperin

In April 2021, Mark Halperin joined No Labels as a consultant. Halperin was formerly an influential media pundit at MSNBC, but was fired in October 2017 in the midst of the #MeToo movement after numerous female coworkers made sexual misconduct allegations against him. Over the past few years, Halperin made multiple attempts to re-start his media career, but he was blocked by major news outlets and only managed to find some exposure on the right-wing outlet Newsmax. In an interview with Punchbowl, a No Labels spokesman stated that Halperin had sufficiently apologized for his misconduct and deserved a “second chance.” ⁸

Founder

In 2010, No Labels was founded by Nancy Jacobson. Jacobson served as finance director for Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign and then finance chair for the Democratic National Committee in the mid-1990s. From 1995-2008, Jacobson served as a senior advisor to the Democratic Leadership Council. In 2007, Jacobson worked as finance chair for the presidential campaign of former Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN), who would become President Barack Obama’s second choice for running mate. ⁹ According to Jacobson’s LinkedIn page, she also served as a senior finance advisor for Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) presidential campaign simultaneously. ¹⁰

From 1994-2010, Jacobson founded and led Nancy Jacobson Consulting, a small independent political consulting firm. From 2004-2008, Jacobson worked at Third Way, a think tank based in Washington, D.C., that advocates for bipartisan efforts. In 2008, she founded NEXT Generation, which hosts annual summits for student political activists to innovate new policies. ¹¹

Political Contributions

From 2010-2020, PACs started by No Labels and individual employees of No Labels have donated $845,477 to political candidates and have spent $3.8 million on outside spending. Contributions from all sources increased dramatically in the 2018 cycle, from tens of thousands of dollars per cycle to hundreds of thousands. The vast majority of contributions prior to 2018 went to Democrats, while in the 2018 and 2020 election cycles, a small majority of funds have gone to Democrats. ¹²

In the 2020 election cycle, the PACs and employees of No Labels gave $395,077 to political candidates. The largest recipient was Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA), who received $74,555; followed by Rep. Donald John Bacon (R-NE); former Rep. Ben McAdams (D-UT); and Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI). Aside from McAdams, the top recipients are members of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a legislative group organized by No Labels. ¹³

In August 2021, the Intercept reported that anonymous sources had informed reporters that No Labels had offered large contributions to two moderate House Democrats if they agreed to skip a Napa Valley Fundraising event hosted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi and less-moderate Democrats, at the time, were attempting to pass  a $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill that No Labels was working to oppose. ¹⁴ Representatives Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-GA) and Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), both moderate Democrats working with No Labels, were reportedly offered $200,000 each to skip the fundraiser. Bourdeaux ultimately attended the fundraiser, while Gonzalez did not, though he still received funding from the event. Representatives of both Gonzalez and No Labels denied that any such offer was made, and called the accusation false. ¹⁵

Lobbying

Since its founding, No Labels has spent $100,000 on lobbying, with most funds spent in 2013-2014. ¹⁶

Funding

No Labels has received funding from numerous major donors. Hedge fund manager Louis Bacon, a donor to Republicans including Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), began backing No Labels in 2018 when he gave $1 million to the organization’s associated PACs. James Murdoch, one of the more liberal members of the family of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has given at least $1.2 million to New Labels’ associated PACs. Billionaire Nelson Peltz was a heavy donor to President Donald Trump and gave $900,000 to New Labels’ associated PACs. Other large PAC donors have included lawyer Dan Webb and financier Howard Marks. ¹⁷

Controversies

Several interviews by Politico of former staffers and those claiming to be familiar with the group have made a series of allegations regarding the organization’s “toxic” culture and hinting at “internal discord.” ¹⁸ Such allegations include hiring those previously fired from other jobs due to sexual assault allegations, African American staffers being singled out for tasks due to their race, female colleagues told to dress more “conservatively” after one was touched inappropriately by a “member of Congress” during a company event, ex-staff seeking compensation over the nature of their termination, and being given “demanding” and “odd requests” by Jacobson at “all hours of the day.” ¹⁹ Former No Labels deputy director of field operations Katie Young, who worked there from 2019-2020, stated, “The internal environment of No Labels is a hostile one which is clear by the fact that no one stays there very long…You either agree blindly to everything the CEO wants or they get rid of you.” ²⁰

In response, several senior officials reached out to Politico to defend Jacobson whilst acknowledging the company’s demanding office culture. One of them, company board member and retired Adm. Denis Blair, stated, “There is a sense of tension in the organization because we want to get this stuff done…This kind of work is not for everybody, and I think some of the people you talked to simply did not adapt to that approach.” ²¹

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21. Lippman, Daniel. “Inside the turmoil roiling No Labels’ unity ticket presidential campaign.” Politico, December 7, 2022. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/07/no-labels-unity-presidential-ticket-centrist-group-2024-00072712