It was established by the New York Republican Party in 1994 to take advantage of New York's electoral fusion laws, providing Republican gubernatorial nominee George Pataki a ballot line that the Republican Party felt might attract Democratic voters in the 1994 New York gubernatorial election.
[2] Tax Cut Now was run in Albany, New York by the state Republican leadership.
[1] Because the line drew more than 50,000 votes in the election, which Pataki won, it became eligible to run candidates for the next four years.
[3] After the election, it was renamed the Freedom Party,[3][4] which led to a conflict with Al Sharpton, who unsuccessfully attempted to take control of the ballot line after he withdrew his then ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit against the group.
[5] The ballot line did not nominate a candidate the 1998 gubernatorial election and folded as a result.