New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado on why he's primarying his boss, Gov. Kathy Hochul
New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado is seeking to replace his boss, Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is up for reelection in 2026.
Delgado said he plans to wage his primary campaign on lowering the cost of living and criticized Hochul for refusing to raise taxes on the ultra wealthy and large corporations. He also believes more voters in the deep blue state are turning away from the Democratic party under the governor's leadership.
"I think there's a real thirst out there for driving down the cost of living, whether it's housing, whether it's child care, whether it's health care. And I think for a very long time those trend lines for the typical New Yorker across the state have been going in the wrong direction, and the numbers bear that. One in five kids right now live in poverty. One in four New Yorkers can't afford basic necessities, be it groceries, be it housing. I think when you combine that with the fact that we had the largest wealth inequality gap in the country right here in New York, there's a reason why we saw the largest swing from left to right in the country right here in New York," Delgado said Sunday on CBS News New York's "The Point with Marcia Kramer."
Hochul has frequently focused on affordability, including expanding the child tax credit in her latest $254 billion state budget deal in Albany. She is opposed to raising income taxes.
"I think raising revenue, certainly on the ultra wealthy and big corporations is a part of that. The governor has refused to do that at any point over the course of her administration, which is not the right approach," the lieutenant governor continued. "I think it's also a mistake to not reevaluate the manner in which we leverage tax subsidies and credits in the name of economic development. We give a lot of these things out to the private sector without really getting a return on investment. We should be reevaluating how we spend public dollars and reinvest those dollars directly into folks who need it the most."
Statistics show approximately 7,000 people in New York pay the bulk of the taxes, but Delgado said he's not concerned about the wealthy moving out of the state if they were forced to pay a higher rate.
"The people who are moving are making between $30,000-$60,000 a year," he said. "This has been a trend line for decades. And I think that speaks to the fact that there hasn't been any real, bold, transformational change that has been driven by a commitment to reassessing how we are allocating public dollars. Instead, entrenched economic and political interests have more or less maintained this dynamic over time, and has left communities behind. That's not just in the city, that's all across the state, rural areas upstate as well."
Delgado was appointed lieutenant governor in 2022 after Brian Benjamin was indicted on federal bribery and fraud charges and resigned. The charges were eventually dropped.
Hochul was elevated to governor in 2021, when then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned from office in his third term. She defeated Republican challenger Lee Zeldin to win a full term in 2022 -- the closest governor's race in New York since 1994, when the GOP's George Pataki unseated incumbent Mario Cuomo. In 2024, President Trump lost to Vice President Kamala Harris by about 13 percentage points -- the closest presidential race in the Empire State since 1988.
So far, polling indicates the governor would defeat her challengers in the Democratic party.
In his interview, Delgado also discussed rising electricity rates, Zohran Mamdani and the New York City mayor's race, the Trump administration, and more.
To watch the full interview, click here.
