Former Georgia official Geoff Duncan passes on No Labels presidential bid

Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he won’t launch a third-party presidential bid with the No Labels movement.

“It was an honor to be approached, and I am grateful to all those who are engaged in good-faith efforts to offer Americans a better choice than the Trump vs. Biden rematch,” Duncan said in a statement Monday.

He added that he wants to work toward “healing and improving the Republican Party with a GOP 2.0 so we can elect more commonsense conservative candidates in the future.”

Some No Labels leaders worked to recruit Duncan to serve on a “unity” ticket that would give voters an alternative to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Duncan was seen by some supporters as a candidate who could appeal to swing voters in Georgia and other battleground states.

The Republican is a frequent contrarian within his party. An outspoken critic of Trump, he also refused to endorse Herschel Walker, the GOP U.S. Senate nominee in 2022. And he wouldn’t support the campaign of his successor, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. Both were Trump loyalists.

More recently, he was a key witness in the Fulton County election interference trial against Trump and his allies, testifying before a grand jury shortly before District Attorney Fani Willis announced indictments against the former president and 18 co-defendants.

With polls showing many voters dreading a rematch between Biden and Trump, No Labels sees an opening for a third-party bid. The group has also built a considerable cash stockpile from donors it has refused to disclose.

But supporters of both candidates say the attempt could hurt Biden in battleground states such as Georgia, where fewer than 12,000 votes decided the 2020 race. Biden became the first Democrat to flip the state since 1992.

No Labels has struggled to attract a formidable contender. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said she wouldn’t wage a third-party bid after quitting the GOP race this month, and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate West Virginia Democrat, said he won’t run for president.

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican with ties to No Labels, is instead running for a U.S. Senate seat.

While most state Republican officials either cozy up to Trump or try to avoid his wrath, Duncan set himself on a collision course with the former president and top members of his own party by disputing the falsehoods spread about the 2020 election.

Since Trump’s 2020 election defeat, Duncan has repeatedly urged fellow Republicans to move past the former president. He’s called proposed rollbacks to voting rights “solutions in search of a problem,” and he refused to preside over a state Senate vote on election restrictions.

His stance alienated many Republicans, who said he effectively betrayed the GOP.

A former professional baseball player, Duncan was a three-term member of the Georgia House from Forsyth County when he announced a 2018 run for the seat left open when then-Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle ran for governor. Duncan narrowly defeated David Shafer in a GOP runoff, then bested Democrat Sarah Riggs Amico.

He quickly positioned himself as an ally to Gov. Brian Kemp and was one of the first high-profile officials to endorse U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler. Before he became a vocal critic of Trump, he was seen as a potential contender for the U.S. Senate or other higher office.

Had he entered the presidential race, the extent of his national appeal was unclear, though he’s tried to build a broader profile since leaving office in 2023 as a CNN commentator and a contributing columnist to the AJC.

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