Wanted: New Hochul running mate

Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado announced on Monday that he won’t run for a second term, leaving Gov. Kathy Hochul for now without a running mate when she runs for election next year.

Delgado, Hochul’s second lieutenant governor, posted a message on X saying that he would not run for reelection in 2026. But he left the door wide open to other elected positions in the future. “I am determined to be your voice in state government now and in the future,” Delgado said. “All options are on the table, and I will be exploring them.”

In recent months, Delgado has split publicly with Hochul on a number of significant issues. The first major break came last summer, when Delgado called on former President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race at a time when Hochul remained one of Biden’s staunchest supporters and surrogates. After that, Delgado made a number of cable news appearances and penned a New York Times op-ed about the direction of Democratic leadership, all with nary a mention of his boss. 

Earlier this month, Delgado again publicly diverged from Hochul when he said that New York City Mayor Eric Adams should resign, a position the governor has not taken. He spoke with reporters in Albany about his decision and again made several media appearances to discuss the need for strong Democratic leadership, with little mention of Hochul. After the Adams comment, Hochul’s communications director Anthony Hogrebe offered a chilly response about Delgado. “Lieutenant Governor Delgado does not now and has not ever spoken on behalf of this administration,” he said in a statement at the time.

Hogrebe released another prickly response to Delgado’s new announcement. “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,” he said in a statement. Hogrebe said that they would be “reallocating responsibilities within the administration” that had been under the purview of the lieutenant governor so that “important initiatives… are no longer neglected.” And he added that Hochul had already begun her search for a new running mate before Monday. “Governor Hochul wishes (Delgado) the best in his future endeavors.”

Although the administration is shifting duties away from him, Delgado is not resigning and intends to serve out the remainder of his term.

A spokesperson for Hochul’s campaign referred back to Hogrebe’s statement. A spokesperson for Delgado’s campaign said that he made the decision not to run again and was not pushed out by Hochul.

As he has sought to distance himself from the governor and assert his independence, rumors have emerged that Delgado may seek to run for governor himself in a Democratic primary against Hochul in 2026. It wouldn’t be the first time that a lieutenant governor tried their hand at unseating their old boss, although the attempt has not generally been met with success. Delgado had been a rising star in Congress before he became lieutenant governor, having unseated a Republican incumbent in 2018 to become the first Black member of Congress from upstate.