Reports: Growing Rift between Him and His Running Mate
By Lindsay Press
Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado made a surprising announcement that he will not be running for re-election this fall. Although he gave no reason why he wasn’t running again, reports surfaced that a public rift had grown between him and Governor Kathy Hochul.
On February 24, Hochul’s communications director, Anthony Hogrebe, sent out an email stating, “Today, Antonio Delgado finally said out loud what has been obvious for quite some time: he is simply not interested in doing the job of the Lieutenant Governor of the State of New York.” Hogrebe said that Hochul is currently looking for his replacement and will reassign certain responsibilities “to ensure that important initiatives that had been within the Lieutenant Governor’s office are no longer neglected. Governor Hochul wishes him the best in his future endeavors.”
Meanwhile, Delgado posted a statement on Twitter/X. “When I first made the decision to run for office after the 2016 presidential election, I did so because I believed we needed more leaders in government willing to hold themselves accountable to the people — and only the people. I believe New Yorkers deserve this kind of leadership now more than ever.”
He also noted that he will finish out his term. He has yet to decide what he will do. “All options are on the table, and I will be exploring them.”
According to various media reports, Delgado’s decision was based on two major disagreements he had with Hochul — one over whether Joe Biden should run for re-election as U.S. President and the other regarding the governor’s decision not to remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
As 2024’s presidential race was heating up between Biden and Donald Trump, Hochul and Delgado — like many Democrats — were divided as to whether to let Biden run or nominate another candidate. While Hochul remained steadfast in her support of Biden, Delgado called for Biden to step down. More recently, with Adams facing federal charges of wire fraud, bribery and accepting illegal campaign contributions, Hochul and Delgado ended up on opposing sides again. Delgado called for Adams to step down while Hochul decided against firing Adams.
According to his biogrpahy, Delgado got his start in politics in 2018, when he ran for the United States House of Representatives and won New York’s 19th Congressional District. Delgado served as Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit as well as the House Small Business and Transportation & Infrastructure Committees.
Before being elected to the House, he worked in the music industry, releasing a socially conscious hip-hop rap song in 2007. He also worked as an attorney and devoted his time to complex commercial litigation and pro bono work connected to criminal justice reform.
A registered Democrat, Delgado was known for his bipartisan work. In 2022, he secured 100 Democrat and Republican cosponsors for his Military Spouse Hiring Act, which addressed high unemployment rates among the spouses of those serving in the armed forces. Eighteen of Delgado’s bills became law under two different presidents. He also passed the Family Farmer Relief Act, the Strengthening Financial Aid for Students Act, and the Improving Benefits for Underserved Veterans Act.
He graduated from Colgate University and later on earned a law degree from Harvard University.