(Bloomberg) -- New York Governor Kathy Hochul appointed U.S. Representative Antonio Delgado as lieutenant governor, replacing Brian Benjamin, who resigned in April after his arrest on bribery charges.
“I look forward to working with him to usher in a new era of fairness, equity, and prosperity for communities across the State,” Hochul said in a statement on Tuesday.
Delgado currently represents New York's 19th Congressional District, which includes the Hudson Valley and Catskills. With his election to the seat in 2018, Delgado, who describes himself as Afro-Latino, became the first person of color to represent upstate New York in Congress, Hochul's office said.
He'll replace Benjamin, who stepped down in April after he was charged with funneling illicit donations to one of his past campaigns, and campaign alongside Hochul as she faces primary voters this summer in a run for governor for the first time.
In a press conference Tuesday afternoon inside the state Capitol in Albany, Delgado said deciding to resign from his Congressional seat and accept the appointment as lieutenant governor “wasn't a choice to leave. It was a choice to go to, to embrace the ability to connect with folks across the whole state.”
Hochul praised Delgado for his record of bipartisanship in Congress. Delgado, a Rhodes Scholar and graduate of Harvard Law School, “is no stranger to hard work and public service,” Hochul said, describing the Congressman as “a rising star with a resume to match.”
Delgado's appointment comes a day after she signed a bill allowing anyone who faces state or federal criminal charges or who has been convicted of a crime to remove themselves from the ballot.
Before the law's passage, there were few options for removing candidates from the ballot after they had been formally nominated. In order to be taken off the ballot line for lieutenant governor, Benjamin would have had to move to another state, die or run for a different office.
While Delgado will certainly be on the statewide primary election ballot, what's unclear is when he will resign from Congress, and when a special election will be held to replace him.“This is obviously very new and we're just working out the timing of everything,” Hochul said.
She said Delgado would resign “sometime this month” and that she would be required to call a special election for the 19th Congressional District seat within 10 days of a vacancy being created.
Both Hochul and Delgado sought to downplay any fears about the vetting process for selecting Delgado, after reports published in recent days that the governor's initial selection of Benjamin as lieutenant governor had been rushed. It was made just days after her own surprise elevation to the governor's office in August 2021, following the resignation of Andrew Cuomo over sexual harassment allegations.
To prepare for Delgaado's appointment, Hochul said her office had done a “deep dive” into the new lieutenant governor before deciding to offer him the position. “I know we got it right.”
Read more: Hochul Hunts for New Lieutenant Governor as N.Y. Primary Nears
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