Libertarian New York gubernatorial candidate Larry Sharpe is entering the Republican primary for governor as the party largely circles around Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman to be their preferred candidate to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul in November.<\/p>\n
Sharpe\u2019s campaign sent an email on Tuesday urging New York residents who are currently registered with the Libertarian Party \u201cand want a real choice in the Republican primary\u201d to switch their party registration to Republican by Saturday, Feb. 14, which is the state deadline to change party registration in order to vote in the scheduled closed primary elections in June.<\/p>\n
Sharpe has been criticizing Blakeman on X this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Bruce Blakeman chases headlines and plays the \u2018Establishment\u2019 game, I\u2019m in the ring for the people. We don’t need another career politician; we need a system reboot. Let\u2019s stop looking for a soundbite and start fighting for Liberty,\u201d Sharpe wrote in one post on Tuesday.<\/a><\/p>\n Sharpe was the New York Libertarian Party candidate for governor in 2018 and 2022, however, he was denied a spot on the ballot in 2022 after the Libertarians, along with the Green Party, lost statewide ballot access following the approval of new, more stringent threshold rules for qualifying.\u00a0Sharpe was nominated by the party in October to again be the party\u2019s candidate in the 2026 contest.<\/p>\n