No Labels abandoned its presidential primary bid last week after failing to recruit a centrist candidate to challenge President Joe Biden. Though it had been unable to recruit anyone, the group had already raised tens of millions of dollars — money that, despite its self-proclaimed centrism, ultimately would have gone toward trying to unseat a sitting Democratic president. The group has, for years, raised cash from Republican billionaires in service of its purportedly middle-of-the-road politics.

Now, one of No Labels’s founders is receiving Democratic support to take a congressional seat in New York. John Avlon, who helped found No Labels in 2010, is two months out from the Democratic primary in New York’s 1st Congressional District. Avlon’s website doesn’t list many specifics, and his media appearances have focused mostly on calls for “defending democracy.”

Aside from running against Donald Trump, Avlon’s stated purpose is to flip the district, which has spent nearly a decade in Republican hands, and help Democrats win the House back after losing the 2022 midterms. To do so, Avlon is turning to a Democrat who has received some blame for losing the House in the first place: On Friday, New York State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs endorsed Avlon.

Democrats are still digging out from the damage done in the 2022 midterms. Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., at the time blamed Jacobs and called for his resignation, but Jacobs denied any responsibility for the losses that likely cost the party its majority in Congress.

Jacobs is, in some ways, a good match for Avlon’s campaign. The state party chair, who did not respond to a request for comment, has long clashed with party progressives and staunchly backed the state’s centrist........

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