Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado announced he\u2019s ending his quixotic campaign for governor.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter much consideration, I\u2019ve concluded that there simply is no viable path forward,\u201d he wrote in a statement posted on X<\/a> on Tuesday. \u201cAnd though my campaign has come to an end, I fully intend to do all I can in our effort to build a more humane, affordable, and equitable state that serves all New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n The decision came a mere week after Delgado announced his running mate<\/a>, one-time Buffalo mayoral candidate and democratic socialist India Walton. Until just days ago, Delgado had said he intended to petition his way onto the ballot after he did not earn enough support<\/a> to gain access automatically at the state Democratic nominating convention on Friday.<\/p>\n In her own brief statement, Walton suggested political observers should keep an eye out for future work from her and Delgado. \u201cIt was the most unexpected and huge honor to be considered and brought into the team so seamlessly and with such care,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m sure this is not the last folks will hear from team Delgado\/Walton!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Gov. Kathy Hochul tapped Delgado to be her running mate in 2022 and he\u2019s served as her deputy since. But he publicly broke with the governor<\/a> last year and then announced in June 2025<\/a> that he would challenge Hochul\u2019s reelection in the Democratic primary. He sought to outflank her from the left<\/a>, promising to raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers and support single-payer health care and expansive immigrant protections. Though he was not a socialist \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m a capitalist,\u201d he said<\/a> at one of his first campaign events \u2013 he hoped to build on the momentum from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s stunning victory.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Hochul didn\u2019t even mention Delgado in a statement responding to his decision to exit the primary. \u201cGovernor Hochul has spent all year uniting her big-tent party around a vision for affordability and safety for every New York family,\u201d spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said. \u201cThanks to her leadership, our campaign and our party are strong and ready to defeat Donald Trump and his enablers up and down the ballot, take back the House, and hand Bruce Blakeman yet another loss this November.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Chitika added that Blakeman and Trump are \u201cunited\u201d in their efforts that Democrats oppose. \u201cOur party is now just as united to stop them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins said Delgado\u2019s decision to suspend his campaign was a \u201cgood idea.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, the convention over the last week was very definitive in terms of the people who support the governor,\u201d Stewart-Cousins told reporters in Albany minutes after Delgado dropped out. The leader noted Mamdani\u2019s and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s endorsements of Hochul, and Delgado\u2019s lack of party support.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just very clear that there was nothing that defined him, particularly, in a way that would make him catch on, apparently,\u201d Stewart-Cousins said. \u201cIt\u2019s better that we are united because we know that when you\u2019re trying to defeat a Trump administration and folks who would deprive us of health care and environmental protections and food \u2013 I could go on and on.\u201d<\/p>\n But the top Senate Democrat stopped short of calling for the lieutenant governor, who serves as the president of the upper house, to resign before his term is up at the end of the year. \u201cThat\u2019s his job,\u201d she added. Hochul stripped Delgado of his government office space and most of his staff after he launched his campaign against her last year.<\/p>\n A small number of progressive organizations and politicians \u2013 including New York Communities for Change, Citizen Action of New York, state Sen. Jabari Brisport and Assembly Member Emily Gallagher\u00a0 \u2013 endorsed Delgado\u2019s campaign. Last week, Brisport even suggested to City & State that Mamdani \u201c(got) it wrong\u201d<\/a> when he decided to back Hochul over Delgado. But then the lieutenant governor did not earn the support of the progressive Working Families Party<\/a> on Saturday, which may have served as the final nail on Delgado\u2019s coffin.<\/p>\n