New York State is among the few states that allow fusion voting, the process where a candidate for public office can appear on more than one political party line on an election ballot. The strategy is that having more than one line increases the possibilities of a successful election.
One frequently cited legend related to the benefits of fusion voting is the fact that no Republican in the past fifty years has been elected to statewide office without also having the endorsement of the Conservative Party. The thing about legends is that they aren’t always all they are cracked up to be.