Morning Digest: Kathy Hochul could face a challenge from her own lieutenant governor

If Antonio Delgado runs, it would set up the rarest sort of confrontation

New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado (D) (credit: Antonio Delgado Facebook)

Leading Off

NY-Gov

Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado is not ruling out a primary challenge to the woman who appointed him to his post, Gov. Kathy Hochul, setting up the possibility of an extremely rare confrontation between a governor and their hand-picked second-in-command—a matchup the number-two figure has only ever won once.

While Delgado told the New York Times' Jeffery Mays that he has no "intention" of running against Hochul, he called further attention to the story by sharing it on Sunday from his personal account on X, without any comment.

In 2022, Hochul tapped Delgado, then in his second term representing New York's 19th District, after her first lieutenant governor, Brian Benjamin, resigned less than a year into the job following his indictment on federal fraud charges. Four years earlier, Delgado had ousted Republican Rep. John Faso in a district Donald Trump had carried 51-44, overcoming racist GOP attacks that highlighted the brief career he pursued as a rapper before becoming an attorney.

Delgado's victory in a tough race, particularly as a Black man winning a heavily white district, along with his relative youth—he was just 41—marked him as a rising star. Joining Hochul's ticket, however, placed him in her shadow, a spot that's grown increasingly undesirable after her uncomfortably close 53-47 win in 2022 and the frequent political blunders she's made since then.

More recently, though, Delgado has sought to carve out his own identity, as Mays details. In the fall, Delgado participated in nearly 50 campaign events for other Democrats, including two who won difficult races in districts that make up the bulk of his old seat in the Hudson Valley: Rep. Pat Ryan in the 18th and Rep.-elect Josh Riley in the neighboring 19th.

Tensions between governors and their backups is nothing new in New York: Republican George Pataki once yanked Betsy McCaughey Ross' security detail for six weeks before dropping her from his ticket ahead of the 1998 elections. But it's exceedingly rare for a lieutenant governor to challenge the person who named them to the job in the first place.

According to Quinn Yeargain, a contributor to The Downballot, it only appears to have happened twice ever—and was only successful once.

That lone triumph came in 1980, when Montana Lt. Gov. Ted Schwinden defeated Gov. Thomas Lee Judge in the Democratic primary 51-42, four years after the pair had won in a landslide. If anything, though, it was Judge who challenged Schwinden: The latter had said he'd run to succeed the governor, who only later decided to seek a third term. Schwinden went on to easily win two terms in his own right.

In 1974, by contrast, Florida Lt. Gov. Thomas Burton Adams fared poorly when he ran against Gov. Reubin Askew after getting dropped from the ticket amid a scandal over his misuse of state resources. Adams finished third with just 10% of the vote while Askew won the primary with 69% of the vote and handily secured a second term that fall.

A key reason this scenario has never played out in New York is that governors normally don't pick their running mates. Rather, each half of the ticket runs in separate primaries and then must run together jointly in the general election, a sometimes awkward process often likened to a shotgun wedding.

Hochul, however, was never forced into an arranged marriage. When she, as lieutenant governor, was elevated to the top spot after Andrew Cuomo resigned in disgrace in 2021, she was able to pick Benjamin and later Delgado to serve alongside her without so much as a confirmation vote by the legislature.

But Hochul is now discovering that even the power to personally select a running mate cannot guarantee harmony between governor and lieutenant.

Regardless of whether Delgado decides to launch this most unusual of campaigns, though, Hochul was already facing a likely primary challenge from Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres. A three-way race could offer Hochul the chance to survive with a mere plurality, but given her poor approval ratings, even that possible escape route is not especially promising.

The NC GOP's rancid new power grab

Governors

AL-Gov

Kent Davis, a former commissioner of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs, isn't ruling out a bid to succeed termed-out Gov. Kay Ivey, a fellow Republican who fired him less than two months ago for allegedly mismanaging a federal grant program.

"It's kind of gone viral, people asking me either, 'Are you running for governor?' or 'Are you interested in running for governor?'" said Davis, a former Navy rear admiral, in comments to the conservative site 1819 News. "What I've politely told people is I would consider running for political office," he added. "Let's see what positions might be viable in a couple of years."

Ivey called for Davis' resignation in September in a letter accusing him of having "mishandled" applications for funds from the American Rescue Plan. Davis denied the allegations but declared that he'd leave at the end of the year, and he said he would stick to that plan even after the State Board of Veterans Affairs found he'd done nothing wrong.

The governor responded by accusing Davis of "manipulation of the board" and called for the panel to fire him. But after the Board voted to reject her request, Ivey proceeded to terminate Davis herself, a move he says he'll contest in court.

Davis is by no means the only Alabama Republican who might run. Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth told AL.com's Mike Carson this summer that he would decide at "the beginning of next year, probably February or March." Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate also informed Carson he was thinking about running.

Along with Ainsworth and Pate, longtime political columnist Steve Flowers recently named Attorney General Steve Marshall as the third and final Republican he views as one of the "obvious successors to the throne." Marshall, though, does not appear to have publicly said anything about his future plans.

Flowers listed several other Republicans as possible contenders, though it's not clear whether any are actually looking at the race. Indeed, one person he mentioned as a "rumored" candidate, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, has already announced that he'll instead seek reelection to his current job.

TN-Gov

State House Speaker Cameron Sexton is considering a bid for governor, reports the Tennessean's Vivian Jones in her look at the potential 2026 Republican field. Sexton appears to have said little about his interest publicly, though Jones notes he's "regularly crisscrossed the state."

Two wealthy businessmen could also run in the GOP primary to replace termed-out Gov. Bill Lee. Damon Hininger, who leads the private prison giant CoreCivic, told The Tennessee Lookout's Sam Stockard back in June he could seek office. Jones adds that Joe Baker, who co-founded a brewing company, is "reportedly considering" this race.

VA-Gov

Rep.-elect Suhas Subramanyam, who will take office next month representing Northern Virginia's 10th District, has endorsed outgoing Rep. Abigail Spanberger in her bid to serve as Virginia's next governor. Several other Democrats in the state's congressional delegation have already gotten behind Spanberger, including Sen. Tim Kaine and Reps. Gerry Connolly and Don Beyer, as well as Subramanyam's predecessor, retiring Rep. Jennifer Wexton.

Spanberger, who's been running for more than a year, is the only Democrat in the race, but she faces a potential challenge in the primary from fellow Rep. Bobby Scott, who recently declined to rule out the race.

House

FL-07

The House Ethics Committee announced Monday that it was investigating Republican Rep. Cory Mills, though it did not provide any information about what sort of allegations it's looking into. Mills just won his second term by a 57-43 margin in the 7th District, a central Florida constituency that the Republican-dominated legislature gerrymandered following the 2020 census. He does not appear to have commented on the matter yet.

PA-07

Outgoing Democratic Rep. Susan Wild tells the Pennsylvania Capital-Star that she's not ruling out a campaign to regain her seat from Republican Rep.-elect Ryan Mackenzie in 2026. Last month, Mackenzie narrowly unseated Wild 50.5-49.5 following an expensive battle for the 7th District in the Lehigh Valley.

Legislatures

VA State Senate

Businessman Luther Cifers won the Republican nomination for the upcoming special election in Virginia's deep red 10th Senate District in an upset, defeating Duane Adams, the chair of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors, at a party gathering on Friday night. He'll be the heavy favorite against Democrat Jack Trammell, a sociology professor, when the two face off on Jan. 7 for the right to succeed Republican John McGuire, who was elected to the U.S. House last month.

Cifers, a political newcomer, won in the third and final round of voting after most of the also-rans endorsed him after they were eliminated. (Vote totals were not announced.) That included the only candidate to make it to the second round, former state Sen. Amanda Chase, who had threatened to run for governor if she perceived any "shenanigans" during the GOP's Friday meeting.

Chase, who was loathed by many in her own party during her time in the legislature, made similar threats ahead of the last governor's race in 2021 (even using that same word, "shenanigans"). But she seems copacetic now, posting a smiling photo with Cifers on social media and wishing him "[c]ongratulations."

Mayors & County Leaders

Buffalo, NY Mayor

Former Judge James McLeod confirmed last week that he would compete in the busy June Democratic primary for mayor of Buffalo. McLeod, who retired in 2019 after two decades on the bench, emphasized his work with young people as he explained why he wanted to lead New York's second-largest city.

New York, NY Mayor

New York City's Campaign Finance Board voted Monday to bar Mayor Eric Adams from receiving public financing in his bid for reelection.

The panel's chair said that officials reached their conclusion after a review of "all available information, including the details of the indictment" against Adams. In September, federal prosecutors charged the mayor with multiple counts of fraud, alleging that he'd received illegal donations from foreign sources as part of a conspiracy with the Turkish government.

This unanimous decision could cost Adams, who is now awaiting trial, as much as $4.3 million in taxpayer-funded contributions, though he can appeal the ruling. The incumbent faces a large field of opponents in June's ranked-choice Democratic primary.

Obituaries

John Spratt

Former South Carolina Rep. John Spratt, whose tenure from 1983 to 2011 made him the last Democrat to represent the northeastern corner of the state in Congress, died Saturday at the age of 82. Spratt rose to become chair of the powerful Budget Committee, a post he held in 2010 when he lost reelection to Republican Mick Mulvaney.

Spratt came to Congress in an era when conservative Democrats were still the dominant faction in Palmetto State politics, and he largely remained secure even as the GOP gained strength locally. Republicans tried to target him in 2006 by fielding state Rep. Ralph Norman, but that year's blue wave helped Spratt prevail 57-43.

The congressman won a 14th term 62-37 in 2008 even as John McCain was carrying his constituency 53-46 against Barack Obama, but trouble was on the horizon. The GOP wave the following cycle hit the region hard, helping Mulvaney unseat Spratt in a 55-45 blowout. Mulvaney resigned in 2017 to join the Trump administration and was succeeded by Norman, who still represents what's now a safely Republican seat.

Reporter Schuyler Kropf has much more on Spratt's lengthy career in his obituary in The Post and Courier.