NEW YORK — In New York, lieutenant governor is a position that largely flies under the radar, until it doesn’t.
In the past 16 years, New York’s governors have resigned twice due to scandals, and the lieutenant governor has had to go a step further. David Paterson took over as governor after Eliot Spitzer resigned in 2008 Kathy Hochul replaced Andrew Cuomo in 2021.
Antonio Delgado is New York’s current second-in-command, and Maurice DuBois of CBS News New York had the opportunity to spend the day with him.
Delgado visits college campuses to hear from communities
“Lieutenant Governor. Relatively unclear, shall we say? Not everyone knows you when you walk into the room,” DuBois said.
“I think we represent a different mindset when it comes to how we view power and what the role of service is,” Delgado said.
Delgado brings his power to the people of upstate New York from the front seat of his SUV.
“This is the life of the lieutenant governor. Isn’t that how you drive every day?’ DuBois said.
“Pretty much, yeah,” Delgado said.
“This is where you work it out, where you do the work, where you think about the next stop,” DuBois said.
“But you know, there’s a lot of thought and a lot of action going on in my mind to try to understand what the community has shared with me,” Delgado said.
The day DuBois met Delgado, that community consisted of a group of graduate students from Baruch College. He has visited nearly two dozen campuses as part of his community service and civic engagement initiative.
Delgado is a Rhodes Scholar, a graduate of Harvard Law School and has been followed for five years as a hip-hop artist on a mission to speak truth to power.
“Even at that moment, I was very disillusioned with the ways in which legal intuitions and/or political institutions could bring about the kind of change I was looking for,” Delgado told the Baruch College students.
He also practiced law and previously served three years in Congress, representing New York’s 19th District Hochul chose him as lieutenant governor.
Delgado wants to help New Yorkers ‘become comfortable with proximity to power’
After the session at Baruch College, DuBois asked Delgado, “How do you process what you just absorbed and just received?”
“If you’re going to listen to people, you have to go in with a purpose to understand. You have people around you who might also take notes. But I like to take my own notes,” Delgado said.
“And the kids were impressed by that, by the way, they saw that… The second man in New York State is listening to us,” DuBois said.
“When I was younger, I didn’t really feel the proximity of power… So everything I do, from taking notes to the way we interact, the way I listen, is all very intentional, because it is intended to help people become comfortable with the proximity of power so they can know their own power,” Delgado said.
“When you sit in this place thinking and being pensive, do you think of rhymes?” DuBois said.
“The short answer is yes. My music was my way of giving voice to my own questions about how to create change,” Delgado said.
“Surely a few lyrics come to mind that apply to this moment, right?” DuBois said.
“I’m not going to rhyme it, but you know, if you lean some weight on you, it’ll lift you up. Besides the logic, the flow is like good writing. Imagine hip-hop, when we used to beatbox, something like that, something that makes the streets hot… It’s love, right?
Delgado about leading with love
“How does having these two 11-year-old boys and your lovely wife, you know, your partner here, affect what you do on a daily basis?” DuBois asked.
“It’s hard not to think emotionally about my family, my wife and my children… They give it all to me,” Delgado said. “It keeps you humble, you know. It keeps you grounded.”
Delgado’s next stop was the City College of New York to speak to more than 150 students training to enter the Service Corps.
“I love you all. Thank you so much for the work you do,” Delgado told the students.
‘You use the word ‘love’ a lot. You used it today. You used it on election night, right?” DuBois asked.
On election night in 2022, Delgado said, “I love you, Mom. You are the reason why I know the power of love.”
“We need that kind of leadership, you know. And I understand, you know, politics … can be a messy game,” Delgado told DuBois.
Maurice DuBois
