Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado believes that defeating his boss, Gov. Kathy Hochul, in the 2026 gubernatorial race is not impossible. In fact, he seems determined to take her down. He broke ranks with Hochul earlier this year in a public split and has been steadily building an anti-establishment campaign. His rhetoric has made clear just how distant he has become from the governor, and how disconnected he believes she has become.
“We just saw it with the New York City mayor’s race. We just saw a city say, enough is enough, and get behind young voters. We’re going to back somebody who has the audacity…to push up against all of that money and entrenched economic and political power,” said Delgado, 48, at a youth town hall in Manhattan on Nov. 19. He was joined by hundreds of members of College Democrats chapters, Young Democrats organizations, and young activists. “I want to be clear about something, the governor of New York is a part of that establishment,” he continued. “Make no mistake about it.”
Delgado became the state’s first Afro-Latino to serve in the lieutenant governor position in 2022, replacing former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, who resigned to fight federal fraud charges that were later quietly dismissed.
Photos contributed by Delgado’s team
A towering figure at 6’4”, Delgado worked hard to lean into the limelight. He drew on his experiences as a U.S. Representative for the 19th District, an athlete, church-goer, Rhodes scholar, and rapper (he was once known as “AD the Voice”) to target a diverse array of voters and help Hochul get reelected for a second term. He also didn’t shy away from the criticism that he was the “runner up Black man” chosen so that Hochul could save herself from political embarrassment.
The two seemed to be a good team.
But it was when Delgado called for former President Joe Biden to end his presidential campaign in 2024 that the first rift became apparent. Now, after about a year of campaigning against Hochul, the two are downright antagonistic. Especially since Delgado is capitalizing on the goodwill of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s win, whom he openly endorsed back in June 2025 when few mainstay Democrats would.
“So we got no ‘tax the rich’ or the ultra wealthy or corporations or billionaires, none of that. We got no free buses. What we do have is a three-month late endorsement, and we have a photo op (of Hochul) eating buffalo wings,” said Delgado, who announced his campaign in June. “See, this is the difference between myself and the governor.”
Hoping to appeal to young New Yorkers across the state, a powerful voting bloc that emerged this year, Delgado is also focused on the issues shaping their future like affordability, the climate crisis, student debt, artificial intelligence, and the changing landscape of work.
“Because right now, we are living in a time where that story of upward mobility that I lived, that story of the middle class growing, we’re moving in the opposite direction. The middle class is actually shrinking. The fastest growing class of folks are the working poor,” said Delgado. “Right here in New York, two out of five households across the state can’t afford basic necessities, can’t afford groceries, can’t afford energy bills, can’t afford rent, can’t afford health care, can’t afford child care, transportation, can’t afford life.”
Delgado has been endorsed by New York Communities for Change, StonyBrook College Democrats, Cornell University Democrats, St. Lawrence University Democrats, and his alma mater, Colgate College Democrats.
“I definitely can say what has greatly improved, and I know this definitely contributed to Zohran’s win, which was targeting the youth. Particularly with social media and relating to us,” said Deari Oliver, the vice president of College Democrats at Syracuse University, about the state of politics.
“This is someone who not only I can relate to, but I can see myself in. Someone who’s willing to speak out against large corporations or entities and governments who want to silent youth voices. As a result it has mobilized a lot of us.”
Oliver added that the Democratic party still struggles with diversity among youth voters. “I want to be transparent and say what we do need to work on is targeting diversity and seeing more spaces where POC youth can be involved in politics. That is a struggle at least on my campus if I had to be honest.”
Meanwhile, Hochul’s campaign efforts at the moment are focused on discrediting Rep. Elise Stefanik, a staunch Trump supporter that launched her candidacy for governor this November.
“The entire country just watched Donald Trump throw Elise Stefanik under the bus the same way she’s been throwing New Yorkers under the bus for years,” said Sarafina Chitika, Hochul’s Campaign Communications Director, in a statement after Mamdani’s first meeting with President Donald Trump on Friday, Nov. 21.
“In one breath, Trump nuked her opening argument and told every New Yorker listening that she’s only playing politics,” said Chitika. “We haven’t seen Stefanik take an ‘L’ this big since Trump crushed her dreams of joining his administration.”