NY-LG: New York's most prominent outspoken progressive, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, endorsed activist Ana Maria Archila for lieutenant governor on Wednesday, taking sides against Gov. Kathy Hochul's preferred choice just a week before the Democratic primary.
Hochul very much wants her new second-in-command, recently elevated former Rep. Antonio Delgado, to join her on the ticket in November, but the choice isn't up to her. That's because New York is one of just seven states that nominates governors and lieutenant governors in separate primaries, with the winners joined together in what can often be an awkward "shotgun wedding."
This unpopular system—which Alaska just ditched this year—led, for instance, to a particularly miserable pairing in neighboring Pennsylvania a few years ago that ultimately saw Gov. Tom Wolf pull Lt. Gov. Mike Stack's security detail. (Stack finished a pitiful fourth place in the primary when he sought re-election in 2018 while Wolf cruised.)
Should Archila prevail over Delgado and find herself as Hochul's number-two next year, a similarly frosty relationship could develop. Archila made a name for herself when she famously confronted then-Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake during Brett Kavanaugh's nomination hearings, blocking an elevator door as she told Flake, who refused to meet her eyes, of her own sexual assault and demanded he oppose Donald Trump's choice for the Supreme Court.
She hasn't hesitated to challenge the more moderate Delgado, either: At a recent debate, in response to a non-committal answer from Delgado about whether Hochul should sign a recently passed bill that would place a moratorium on using fossil fuel plants for cryptocurrency mining, Archila retorted, "This is a perfect example of a governor being an obstacle to process and the lieutenant governor saying nothing."
And she's similarly promised to hold Hochul to account. "I will not be a lieutenant governor who's quietly in the background, smiling and cutting ribbons," she said in a recent interview, adding she would "stand up to the governor when he or she is veering away." Hochul herself understands what it's like to have a poor relationship with the top dog, in a very different way: She receded into near-invisibility for two terms under the autocratic Andrew Cuomo, who reportedly sought to boot her from his ticket last year before he was engulfed in a massive string of sexual misconduct scandals that led to his resignation.
Hochul also knows all too well that her fortunes and Delgado's may not be linked on primary day. In 2018, Cuomo handily dispatched a left-wing challenge from actor and activist Cynthia Nixon by a huge 66-34 margin, but on that same day, Hochul only turned back a similar effort from Jumaane Williams, then a little-known New York City councilman, by a much narrower 53-47 spread.
Williams, now the city's public advocate, is challenging Hochul once again, and he's allied with Archila as the two most vocal candidates on the left. Polls show Hochul beating Williams in a landslide, but there hasn't been a single public survey of the primary for the second spot.
Delgado of course has Hochul's blessing and the backing of many labor unions, plus a $2 million war chest he was able to transfer from his congressional campaign account that's given him a wide financial edge over Archila and a third candidate, former New York City Councilwoman Diana Reyna, the unofficial running mate of Rep. Tom Suozzi.
But the Colombia-born Archila, who, like the Afro-Latino Delgado, would be the first Hispanic person elected statewide in New York, has been campaigning for longer and enjoys the support of a wide range of progressive organizations. There's also the matter of how exactly Delgado came to be on the ticket: After Hochul's previous lieutenant governor, Brian Benjamin, resigned following his arrest on bribery charges, Hochul pressured the legislature into changing state law to allow her to replace Benjamin on the primary ballot with Delgado.
Archila has been sharply critical of Hochul's maneuvering to alter the rules for her benefit midstream. "The governor interfered in an election that was already underway," she put it recently, "instead of allowing a fair election between two Latinas that had been running already." If voters also find this sort of self-serving power politics distasteful, Delgado could find himself a victim of the very effort that was designed to further his ambitions.