Attention Libertarians: Larry Sharpe is back.

The businessman, management consultant and Marine Corps veteran who, in 2018, ran an exuberant social media campaign in the race for governor, and ended up with 95,000 votes, is taking another stab at the state’s highest office.  

Unfortunately for him, the Libertarian Party no longer has a ballot line in New York thanks to a higher threshold put into place by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Under the old rules, a party could gain ballot access if they received 50,000 votes in a gubernatorial race, which Larry did. 

But under the new rules, parties need either 2% of the total vote, 130,000 votes. Sharpe told Capital Tonight that just getting on the ballot this time around will cost his campaign around $200,000 and that the new ballot requirements are “destroying the third parties.”

Recent polls from Zogby Analytics show the Libertarian receiving 6% of the vote in a head-to-head match up against the designated nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties, Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin. Sharpe said that while the data indicate that most of his support comes from New Yorkers who are unregistered, some comes from the right and the left.

When it comes to his appeal to voters, Sharpe said the Libertarian Party is the party of “actual ideas” while “the Democrats are the party of bad ideas and the Republicans are the party of no ideas.”

Correction: A previous version of this story state Larry Sharpe was supported officially by the Unite NY Party. Officials from the Unite NY Party refuted Sharpe’s claim he has the party’s support, saying it hasn’t endorsed anyone this political cycle yet.