No Labels’ signature-gathering firm has ties to Ron DeSantis

As part of its push for a unity ticket presidential bid, the bipartisan group No Labels quietly employed a firm with ties to GOP candidates including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The firm, Blitz Canvassing, was paid a total of $107,000 by No Labels’ affiliated nonprofit entity, Insurance Policy for America, to help it gather signatures in Colorado, the first state where No Labels, which has floated the idea of an independent presidential unity ticket in 2024, qualified as a minor political party. This would allow it to field a presidential candidate in the state.

Tim Pollard, a partner at Blitz Canvassing, confirmed No Labels was a client last year but said the firm, which usually works with Republican candidates as well as on ballot initiatives, had declined opportunities to work with them going forward.

“Colorado, like the country, is moving in the wrong direction. We’re eager for the election ahead,” he said.

Still, the expenditures are likely to provide fodder to the group’s critics, who have accused it of having too many ties to Republicans and who fear a well-funded third party candidate could help re-elect former President Donald Trump.

Though No Labels has floated Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) as a possible presidential candidate, its affiliated nonprofit has many donors who have given heavily to Republicans in the past.

Blitz Canvassing, which is based in Colorado, has worked for Republican candidates in several states. DeSantis’ campaign paid it more than $8 million in 2022, according to Florida campaign finance records. The firm’s 2022 clients also included now-Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) and Colorado GOP Senate candidate Joe O’Dea, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Insurance Policy for America reported paying the firm in December 2022.

According to the Colorado Times Recorder, which first reported the No Labels’ connection, Blitz is “owned by former GOP state senator turned longtime GOP operative Josh Penry,” and “has handled field operations for nearly every major Republican candidate in Colorado for the past decade.”

No Labels did not return requests for comment.

The Colorado firm has also been behind a big hiring push on behalf of the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down PAC, according to several job postings listed in the past month on the "non-woke job board" Red Balloon. Blitz Canvassing also shares office space and a mailing address with Ascent Media, another political consulting firm that has received $10,000 each month from the Republican National Committee this year and worked for DeSantis in 2022.

Blitz Canvassing was not the only firm working on ballot access for No Labels, records show. Insurance Policy for America also paid just over $1.1 million to Capitol Advisors, LLC, which lists a Virginia-based address, in 2022. A firm with the same name previously worked on ballot access for Bill Weld’s longshot challenge to Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020, according to FEC filings.

Colorado was also the first state where No Labels became a recognized party, which would allow it to run candidates for president and other offices. The group has achieved a similar status in Oregon, Alaska and Arizona, although Arizona Democrats have challenged its status in that state.

In a previous interview with POLITICO, No Labels said its focus in those early states was because of the earlier timelines to qualify for ballot access.

No Labels has largely declined to disclose who is funding its presidential bid, although the Insurance Policy for America IRS documents listed some donors who had given up to $5,600. Those contributions account for only a small share of the money No Labels is working with. In the past the group has received larger donations from megadonors such as Harlan Crow.

No Labels has indicated it could drop a third-party bid if DeSantis or another non-Trump Republican wins the GOP nomination, a position it has maintained even as DeSantis recently attacked a bipartisan debt ceiling deal that No Labels praised.

But Trump has maintained a healthy lead in GOP primary polls so far.

CORRECTION: This story original implied the firm did work in more than one state for the group.