Today, Friday, December 12, 2025, the Apache Junction/Gold Canyon Independent published a column by Richard Grayson, "No Labels Party candidate says no to name change":
OPINION — As the No Labels Party candidate in the September special election in the 7th Congressional District, I object to the party’s name change, which was rammed through without procedural due process for the associational rights of the party’s over 40,000 members without any notice or public hearing.
As its website makes clear, Paul Johnson’s Arizona Independent Party has different views and is a different party from the No Labels Party that existed before he allegedly took control in some deal between himself and the national No Labels organization.
My objections are different from those who decry the confusion the Arizona Independent Party causes with true independent voters, but the prospects for confusion are rife.
Richard Winger’s letter is correct insofar as there was once an American Independent Party, but the situation in 1968 was very different.
The AIP was a creature of George Wallace’s pro-segregation, far-right candidacy for president. The only Arizona AIP candidates who ever got on the ballot were a 1970 congressional candidate, the party’s Wallaceite leader Clifford Thomallo, who accused every U.S. president since 1933 of being under the influence of Communists, and 1972 candidate for state representative, Lawrence Oliver, another far-right party member. So the AIP was clearly an ideological party.
Another difference between now and then: In 1976, only 7% of voters in Arizona were true independents, a far cry from today's 34%, so the possibility of confusion is now much greater — especially when the Arizona Independent Party says it is specifically targeting voters not registered with any party (true independents) and planning to be a home for “independent” candidates.
The state must keep the No Labels Party as the No Labels Party. Paul Johnson can get signatures to make his party a new party in the 2026 elections.
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