In an email blast today, The Lincoln Project called out Stagwell Founder and CEO Mark Penn “and his slick, million-dollar PR hacks at No Labels” for raising millions of dollars in a bid to return “Donald Effing Trump” to the White House. 

The back-and-forth between the LP and No Labels—a group run by Penn’s wife, Nancy Jacobson--has been going on for months.  

No Labels purports to be a centrist and bipartisan group that wants to end divisiveness in American politics.  

It has raised the possibility of backing a third-party “unity ticket” for the 2024 presidential race. The LP says that’s a ruse to put Trump back in the White House because any third-party choice would draw more votes from incumbent Joe Biden than Trump if the latter ends up clinching the Republican nomination. 

Penn has denied on several occasions any involvement in the No Labels movement, including in a recent online article from The New Republic.  Stagwell’s HarrisX does some polling work for the organization. 

Nevertheless, LP labels Penn a “No Labels strategist and pollster” who advised Trump during impeachment process number one.  

“Just like us, they’re reading the 2024 polling,” the LP’s Rick Wilson wrote in his email (which also appears as a “latest news” bulletin on the group’s website). “They know that Biden consistently beats Trump in a head-to-head matchup. And they know that an independent candidate can peel enough moderate voters away from Biden to give Trump The White House.” 

LP also reports No Labels has raised $70 million but says the group has not made available its donor list. “No Labels is a dark money extremist organization that exists to elect Trump,” per the LP.  

Wilson added that the LP will focus strenuously on convincing Biden moderates to stick with him in the 2024 race.