The ‘wrong answers only’ LG list

The lieutenant governor doesn’t have that much power anyway (unless, you know) – so why not have some fun with the pick? While there is serious speculation about who might succeed Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado as the No. 2 on the Democratic ballot in 2026, City & State has some more chaotic ideas that have no basis in fact. 

Bill Hochul

If the governor is looking for a No. 2 with legal experience to better fight back against the Trump administration, there’s a former U.S. attorney on the couch next to her.

Hector LaSalle

Hochul’s first pick to lead the state Court of Appeals didn’t work out, but the state Senate can’t single-handedly vote to block Hector LaSalle from becoming lieutenant governor. And in an ironic twist of fate, the LG is actually president of the Senate.

Maria Torres-Springer

The outgoing first deputy mayor of New York City will be looking for her next stop, and she and Hochul did headline a housing event together last year (sans Eric Adams), so maybe the experienced bureaucrat isn’t a completely far-fetched choice.

Eric Adams

Unlike the previous governor-mayor combo of Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio, Hochul and Adams have been publicly united over the past two years. If the mayor loses later this year in the Democratic primary and Hochul needs a downstate ally in 2026, maybe by then the way voters view Adams’ term and scandals in retrospect will have changed.

Byron Brown

By the end of his time in office, the longest-serving mayor in Buffalo’s history didn’t want to be there. But sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. And if leading the Western Regional Off-Track Betting isn’t cutting it, maybe Byron Brown would want back into elected office.

Tom Suozzi

These two former political rivals have mended fences since Hochul summoned him to the state capital and reportedly made her demands. But Rep. Tom Suozzi has become a bit of a Democratic darling since then, speaking at the Democratic National Convention, and maybe Hochul would want to lean on Suozzi’s Long Island expertise.

Josh Allen

While the Buffalo Bills quarterback hasn’t shown much of an interest in politics, the governor has repeatedly, constantly, at every opportunity, showed interest in him. This all-Western New York ticket might be unlikely given Allen is still in the prime of his NFL career.