Smart Move

Per an email newsetter from the Forward Party:

The Forward Party will not run a presidential candidate in 2024, nor will the organization endorse a candidate running in either legacy party primary.

It's unlikely to be a good year for third party / independent candidacies, with the possible exception of RFK Jr.

A single-issue or strongly ideological party can poll below 1% and keep on trucking.

A "good government" party with limited ballot access (Forward has three states so far) and minus an incredibly well-known presidential candidate probably can't. If Forward ran a candidate and ended up getting 100,000 votes nationwide, that would be the end of their hope for being considered "serious" or ever getting much of a "seat at the table."

Not that I expect those hopes to pan out anyway, but for it to remain possible they need to spend the next few years electing local candidates, picking up defectors from among "major" party office-holders, and perhaps getting some wins as co-nominators in "fusion" states.