Buffalo, NY (WBEN) Governor Hochul and Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado have chosen their running mates for the upcoming Democratic primary. One political analyst says each has chosen a running mate who fits them.
Hochul, a moderate Democrat, named Adrienne Adams, the former speaker of the New York City Council, as her replacement lieutenant governor pick for the upcoming election, formally ditching incumbent Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado. Jack O'Donnell of O'Donnell and Associates says Adams is also a moderate, and is strong on law enforcement. "We saw her sort of pushing back on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, when he was saying to cancel ICE. So, a moderate sort of in that whole model is what we're going to see," says O'Donnell.
O'Donnell believes Hochul picked Adams to step into the office in case something were to happen. "She also adds plenty of regional diversity to the Democratic ticket, being from from Queens, someone who led the city council, and she has some experience campaigning," notes O'Donnell. He says Adams's weakness is she didn't do well in the NYC mayoral campaign. "Some of that is because she started late, and Mamdani was a political force, and Andrew Cuomo had a lot of strength, especially with black voters. But, I think that, and the fact that she doesn't necessarily have strong name recognition outside of her council district in Queens, those are probably the negatives," says O'Donnell.
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Meanwhile, Delgado has selected India Walton, who won the 2021 Buffalo Democratic mayoral primary over Byron Brown before losing to Brown's write-in campaign, as his running mate. "I think this choice makes a lot of sense for Delgado," says O'Donnell. "Walton, really became a DSA, a Democratic socialist of America poster child. But by winning that primary, and has really kept up a lot of those relationships as a sort of leader of the left wing of the Democratic Party and and that's certainly the part of the Democratic Party and the voters and the organizations that Antonio Delgado is is working hard to activate."
O'Donnell says this is absolutely an uphill battle for Delgado and Walton. "They'll be trying to energize that Democratic Left, that Democratic energy, and look it projected propelled Mamdani to a surprise victory last year in New York City. So we'll be watching to see what happens this June," explains O'Donnell.
Primary day is June 23.