Former Donald Trump Aide Makes Third-Party Plea

Former President Donald Trump's ex-Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney pleaded for a "viable" third-party candidate in the 2024 presidential election in a new opinion piece published on Wednesday.

Calls for a third-party candidate have grown as many Americans are not sold on a rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden, as both candidates appear poised to win their party's primaries to go head-to-head in November. However, third-party candidates rarely receive more than a few percentage points of the vote, oftentimes instead only playing a spoiler role.

Mulvaney, who from 2019 to 2020 served as Trump's acting chief of staff, made the case for why Americans deserve a strong third-party candidate in the 2024 election in an opinion piece for The Hill. He wrote that he sees a "general displeasure amongst the electorate with the idea of" a rematch between Trump and Biden.

"You don't go into the voting booth and vote for whomever you think might be the very best person in the world to serve in office. You go in and choose from among the names in front of you. The question then, is really "Do you want Biden, or Trump or...fill in the blank?" he wrote.

He also, however, noted the challenges in finding a third-party candidate, writing that current third-party candidates already running, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, are less "viable."

He also highlighted challenges faced by the political organization No Labels, viewed by many as the best opportunity to get a viable third-party candidate on the ballot—though critics say any No Labels candidate would simply be a spoiler with little chance of victory.

Newsweek reached out to the Kennedy and West campaigns for comment via email.

No Labels has struggled to recruit a strong candidate to challenge Biden and Trump, he wrote, pointing to two "gut punches" the organization has recently taken. Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, both declined to run for president. Both are viewed as centrists and have been floated as potential No Labels candidates.

"It's hard to imagine putting a name next to the No Labels line on a ballot right now that gets more than a protest vote," Mulvaney wrote.

No Labels is not "out of the game," as there is "certainly a swath of America out there that would like to see a third name on the ballot," he wrote. But he added that the organization's ability to find the right candidate "remains seriously in doubt."

Mulvaney listed several possible names as having the potential to be "viable" candidates—Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift, Independent Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Utah Senator Mitt Romney.

No Labels chief strategist Ryan Clancy responded to Mulvaney's opinion piece in a statement to Newsweek.

"We understand people's impatience for a name especially given voters clear desire for better choices. But No Labels has said unequivocally we will not announce a ticket before mid-March. Our strategy has not changed. We are focused on getting on the ballot and we are speaking to several exceptional candidates about being on the Unity ticket. If we do offer our line to a ticket in the coming weeks it will be one that we believe can win the White House," he wrote.

Notably, none of these individuals have signaled plans to run in 2024.

Mulvaney served as Trump's chief of staff from January 2019 to March 2020. He later served as the special U.S. envoy for Northern Ireland. He resigned from that post following the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, when Trump supporters violently tried to block certification of Biden's Electoral College victory.

"I called [Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo last night to let him know I was resigning from that. I can't do it. I can't stay," Mulvaney said at the time.

Update 2/22/24, 8:14 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Ryan Clancy.