Third parties with automatic ballot access In addition to the Democratic and Republican Parties, six other political parties had automatic ballot access; all six chose to exercise it. In order of ballot appearance, those parties are: •
Conservative Party of New York State: On April 13, 2018, in what party chairman
Michael R. Long termed a "not very easy" decision, the Conservative Party Executive Committee selected
Marc Molinaro over Deputy Senate Majority Leader
John A. DeFrancisco as its gubernatorial endorsee. • Nominee:
Marc Molinaro •
Green Party of New York: On April 12, 2018,
Howie Hawkins, after initially implying after the 2014 election that he would not seek the office again, launched his third consecutive campaign for the position, his 21st campaign for public office. • Nominee:
Howie Hawkins, party co-founder and perennial candidate • Running mate: Jia Lee,
United Federation of Teachers chapter leader and public school teacher •
Working Families Party: On April 14, 2018, by a 91–8 margin, the Working Families Party endorsed
Cynthia Nixon as its gubernatorial candidate, with
Jumaane Williams as her running mate. The endorsement came after the labor unions that formed part of Cuomo's
political machine, who were able to force the party to nominate Cuomo instead of
Zephyr Teachout in 2014, withdrew from the party, and Cuomo declined to seek the party's line. On September 13, 2018, after being defeated by Cuomo in the Democratic primary, Nixon declined to say whether she would continue to run for governor on the Working Families Party line. On October 3, the Working Families Party offered Cuomo and Hochul their party's ballot line. Cuomo and Hochul accepted that offer on October 5. • Nominee: Andrew Cuomo (replacing the withdrawn Cynthia Nixon) • Running mate: Kathy Hochul (replacing the withdrawn Jumaane Williams) •
Independence Party of New York: On December 23, 2017, the party endorsed incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo for the third consecutive election cycle. • Nominee:
Andrew Cuomo •
Women's Equality Party: The party endorsed Cuomo for re-election, as the party remained allied with the Cuomo campaign. • Nominee:
Andrew Cuomo •
Reform Party of New York State: On May 19, after the party's executive committee deadlocked between
Marc Molinaro and
Joel Giambra in April, delegates at the Reform Party state convention nominated Republican frontrunner Molinaro for governor. • Nominee:
Marc Molinaro Independent candidates and third parties without automatic ballot access Any candidate not among the eight
qualified New York political parties (Democratic, Republican, Conservative, Green, Working Families, Independence, Women's Equality and Reform, respectively) was required to submit petitions to gain ballot access. Such candidates did not face primary elections. At the time, third parties whose respective gubernatorial candidates received at least 50,000 votes in the general election secured automatic ballot access in all state and federal elections through the 2022 elections, but due to a 2020 law to change the requirements, four parties lost that access in 2020 (Libertarian, Independence, Working Families, Serve America Movement).
Libertarian Party Larry Sharpe ran on the
Libertarian Party line.|alt= On July 12, 2017,
Larry Sharpe, business consultant and
runner-up in the 2016 Libertarian Party vice presidential primary, officially announced that he would run for governor of New York in 2018. Sharpe was the first person to announce his candidacy to run against incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo. On August 19, 2018, the Libertarian Party announced it had collected over 30,000 signatures to place its ticket onto the November ballot. Sharpe's petitions survived a petition challenge. • Nominee:
Larry Sharpe, business consultant and runner-up in the 2016 Libertarian Party vice presidential primary • Running mate: Andrew Hollister, candidate for
Rochester City Council in 2017 entered the gubernatorial race as a third-party candidate. Miner circulated designating petitions to create a Serve America Movement (SAM) Party in New York. On August 21, her campaign announced that it had submitted over 40,000 petition signatures. • Nominee:
Stephanie Miner, former state Democratic Party chairwoman and former mayor of
Syracuse • Running mate: Michael Volpe, mayor of
Pelham Rent Is Too Damn High Party (disqualified) Jimmy McMillan, the party's founder and figurehead, indicated on the party website that he would make another attempt at the office. He submitted petitions on August 21, 2018, with himself as the gubernatorial nominee and Christialle Felix as his running mate. When the ballot order was released, McMillan and the Rent Is Too Damn High Party had been disqualified and removed from the ballot. ==General election==