A write-in candidate running for office in Congressional District 7 won the No Labels Party primary election with just one vote, making him the first candidate from the party to appear on a general election ballot in Arizona.
Richard Grayson was one of a handful of No Labels candidates running for lower offices in 2024 who were blocked from the ballot by a federal court order. Judge John Tuchi prohibited Secretary of State Adrian Fontes from placing their names on the ballot after No Labels, which only sought to field a presidential ticket, filed a lawsuit to block Grayson and others from running under the party’s banner.
“So it annoyed me enough so that I decided to run in the special election, knowing that the court order by the District Court in Phoenix expired, and it was only for the 2024 election,” Grayson said.
Tuchi’s order applied only to the 2024 election. And the the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its own order last month disagreeing with the lower court ruling, finding any qualified No Labels candidate can run for office without the party’s permission.
Grayson has a decades-long history of running protest campaigns in states across the country, going back to a local town council race in Florida in 1982, according to Ballotpedia.
“It started in Florida when I realized that many Republican and Democratic incumbent congressmen and women were not being opposed at all by Democrats,” Grayson said.
He even ran a satirical fundraising campaign in 1990 asking New Yorkers to help raise money for local businessman turned long-shot presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to the Miami Herald.
But Grayson said it was No Labels — not the other candidates — that drove him to run in CD7, a blue district where Democrat Adelita Grijalva is expected to win the general election to succeed her father, the late Congressman Raúl Grijalva.
“I think Adelita Grijalva will make a fine congresswoman, and we have a Green Party candidate and I expect most of my views are similar to theirs. … I was quite annoyed by the No Labels Party in the No Labels organization in Washington going to court to stop people from running,” Grayson said.
Grayson, the only No Labels candidate running in the CD7 race, won the primary with one write-in vote, according to the official election canvass.
Grayson said he does not live in the district, which is not a requirement to run for Congress, so he could not vote for himself.
Arizona could see more No Labels candidates on the ballot next year after the state party was taken over by backers of last year’s failed effort to ban partisan primaries.
However, new No Labels Arizona Chairman Paul Johnson said he plans to change the state party’s name, and the No Labels national organization confirmed it has no involvement with the new version of the state party in Arizona.
Grayson also said he is not affiliated with the new group that took over the party.
