“Over the last several months, as I’ve been out talking to New Yorkers, one thing has become clear: there is a disillusionment with the Democratic Party by some — a feeling that the party has been hijacked, that it doesn’t produce real results, and that it doesn’t fight for working people anymore,” Cuomo said in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner.

Cuomo cited the “proof” of the 2024 presidential election results and the 2022 New York gubernatorial election, where Republican candidates came closer to beating their Democratic rivals than in previous contests, as reasons for forming a different party.

“Poll after poll shows that the Democratic Party’s approval rating is the lowest it’s ever been.  This is emblematic of a larger problem, one that we, as a party, will not be able to solve until we are willing to admit: Trump didn’t win, Democrats lost,” he said.

Cuomo added that he believes Democrats “will turn this around” and “put ‘progress’ back in the progressive party.”

“This November, in addition to securing the Democratic nomination, my campaign will work to build the largest possible coalition and secure the biggest possible mandate,” he concluded. “We will be responsive to those who want to support my candidacy, but who would like an alternate way to do it.”

Cuomo is the second major candidate in the race to flirt with a third-party run. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is running for another term as an independent after leaving the Democratic primary.

Cuomo’s new ballot line could counter Adams for any voters disillusioned with Democrats and siphon voters away from the progressive Working Families Party line. If progressive City Comptroller Brad Lander or state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani lose in the Democratic primary, they may run on the WFP line in the general election.

The “Fight and Deliver Party” could also give Cuomo an “insurance policy” if he loses the Democratic Primary, a source told the New York Post.

Lawrence Levy, the executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies for New York’s Hofstra University, told the Washington Examiner that New York is “virtually the only” state that allows candidates to run on multiple ballot lines. However, the decision could prove decisive for Cuomo.

“Creating another option for voters is a common, long-standing tactic to attract voters who might want to support you but not pull a lever that supports your party,” he said. “These lines don’t attract many voters, but in a close election, they have the potential to be decisive.”

Levy thinks Cuomo wants voters from other parties, and he said he wouldn’t be surprised to see a Republican do something similar for Democrats.

“Clearly, Cuomo would like to find a home for Republican and independent voters who like him, but don’t like the Democratic Party and would like to be able to say, ‘I didn’t vote for the Democratic candidate.’ I wouldn’t be surprised if the Republican tries to do the same thing to attract Democrats who could never pull a lever for the GOP line,” he concluded.

Lander jeered Cuomo’s decision to form another ballot line, urging him to become a Republican.

“[Cuomo] loaded his cabinet with Republicans, cut a deal to give them control of the State Senate, attacks [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)] every chance he gets, and now openly bashes the Democratic Party,” he said in an X post. “Why doesn’t he just follow in [Adams’s] footsteps, make it official, and become a Republican?”

LAWLER BLAMES ‘DEMOCRATIC PLAYBOOK’ FOR UNRULY ATTENDEES AT HIS TOWN HALLS

Mamdani unleashed more vicious rhetoric, labeling Cuomo a “Democrat-in-Name-Only” and saying Cuomo is “scared.”

“I guess ‘Close Hospitals, Neglect Transit and Cut Taxes for Billionaires’ line was too many words for the ballot?” he added.