A Maricopa County judge dismissed a lawsuit initiated by the Arizona Democratic Party (AZDP) aiming to revoke the ballot access of the nascent No Labels Party in Arizona prior to the 2024 elections.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper threw out the AZDP lawsuit seeking to strike No Labels from the ballot in 2024, declaring Democrats’ claims that No Labels did not gather petitions properly and should be required to publish financial records do not stand up to scrutiny.
The ruling represents a setback in AZDP’s efforts against No Labels, who the party asserted would “make it more difficult to elect Democratic Party candidates” in its lawsuit.
AZDP Executive Director Morgan Dick told The Arizona Sun Times the party is “evaluating all our options” in a statement. She said AZDP will continue its work to expose “who is bankrolling this organization as they inject themselves into our elections.”
No Labels did not respond to a comment request by press time.
In her decision, Judge Cooper invited AZDP to file an amended complaint, or a motion to amend the complaint, by September 11, should they seek to raise new issues discovered after the lawsuit was filed in April.
At that time, No Labels chief strategist Ryan Clancy called the AZDP lawsuit “undemocratic and outrageous” in an email to The Sun Times. “Next time you hear this crowd talking about protecting democracy, remember what they are really doing is protecting their turf,” Clancy added.
After AZDP complained to Secretary of State Adrian Fontes that No Labels should be required to release its financials and the names of those who funded its petition gathering, No Labels National Co-Chair Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr. told The Sun Times that Arizona Democrats were “desperate to keep voters from having a real choice.”
The Sun Times reported extensively on No Labels’ structure, history, funding, and plans for Arizona when the state recognized the party in March.
Though not required to disclose its funding sources as a 501(c)(4) organization, names of donors retrieved from internal documents include Republican megadonor Nelson Pletz, billionaire private equity investor Marc Rowan, and Berkshire Partners LLC co-founder Carl Ferenbach. While its donors may trend conservative, The Sun Times found No Labels also solicited funding from Hungarian-American businessman George Soros, a notorious patron of left-wing causes and candidates, to no avail.
No Labels insists it has no plans to run state-level candidates in Arizona and instead may offer its ballot access to a third-party presidential candidate who would otherwise be unable to compete in Arizona.
It is possible that Green Party candidate Cornel West, who was polling at 4 percent in Arizona against President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in a recent poll, could receive No Labels’ ballot access, though the party has promised that “No one at No Labels has any interest in fueling a spoiler effort.” The Green Party ceased being recognized in Arizona in 2019.
Similarly, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) “has flirted with a presidential run” with No Labels, according to Politico.
No Labels is the fourth party to be recognized in Arizona, joining the Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians. More than 7,000 Maricopa County and Pima County voters have registered with No Labels since March.
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Tom Pappert is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Tom on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Woman Voting” by GPA Photo Archive. CC BY-NC 2.0.
