ALBANY, N.Y. (AP - Modified) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday announced a new reelection running mate — as her current lieutenant governor has launched an increasingly caustic primary challenge to unseat her.
Hochul, a moderate Democrat, named Adrienne Adams, the former speaker of the New York City Council, as her replacement lieutenant governor pick for the upcoming election, formally ditching incumbent Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado.
The selection of Adams could help Hochul, who is from Buffalo, bolster her downstate credibility and potentially garner support among working class Black voters in the city at a time when Delgado is angling to win over progressives.
“Adrienne and I are no strangers to rolling up our sleeves and getting results for working New Yorkers. Together, we’re going to continue investing in public safety, bringing costs down, and making this state a place where all families can thrive," Hochul said in a statement.
Adams, who is from southeast Queens and represented parts of the borough before becoming the Council's first Black speaker, ran an unsuccessful campaign for mayor last year, failing to pick up momentum in a crowded field that included the city's eventual mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
The replacement of Delgado had been a long time coming.
Hochul and Delgado had been feuding for months before Delgado said he wouldn't run alongside the governor last year, teasing his own campaign for higher office. Delgado made the breakup official in June with his own candidacy for governor, calling for more progressive, transformational leadership in the state.
Since then, Delgado been in a somewhat curious political position: He remains Hochul's lieutenant governor, at least on paper, while he campaigns across the state tossing jabs in a race against his own boss.
When Hochul was giving her annual State of the State speech last month to a packed theater in Albany, Delgado was out making stops along what he has called the “State of the People Tour.” He named his own running mate, progressive India Walton, with a video titled “A Mom from Buffalo,” in a dig at Hochul, who often refers to herself as the state's first “mom governor."
Over the last few months, Hochul has sidestepped questions about her lieutenant governor’s unusual predicament.
Asked this week by a reporter with the Albany Times Union about whether Delgado should resign because, the reporter added, “Right now, you have somebody who is basically campaigning on the government’s dime," the governor responded in curt terms.
“I will leave that to the Times Union to observe and to state. That’s an interesting observation. Correct," she said.
Delgado, a former member of Congress, has framed his candidacy in the mold of Mamdani, moving to capture progressive excitement and casting himself as part of a new generation of leaders better equipped to guide New York through President Donald Trump's second term.
Delgado also announced his running mate on Wednesday. Former Buffalo mayoral candidate India Walton will join him on the ballot. You can read more here.
In a social media post, Delgado said in part:
"India is a proven fighter for the working class. A mother from Buffalo and committed activist, India energized new, often overlooked voters in her historic run for mayor. I am honored to call her my partner in this fight, and thrilled she has agreed to join me as we take on a broken system - enabled by establishment politicians - that serves the few at the expense of the many."
Hochul endorsed Mamdani and is an ally of the democratic socialist, but she has clear ideological breaks with the new mayor. The most recent public split between the two leaders came as Hochul threw cold water on his idea to raise taxes for the wealthy.
Hochul handpicked Delgado to serve as her second-in-command after her first lieutenant governor, Brian Benjamin, resigned in 2022 as federal prosecutors charged him with bribery and fraud, alleging he helped a real estate developer get state grants in exchange for campaign contributions.
That case never went to trial. Federal prosecutors dropped the charges last year after one of the key witnesses died, saying they could no longer prove Benjamin committed a crime.
