Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado visited Oneonta Wednesday, Dec. 10 to attend a fundraising event for his New York gubernatorial campaign.
Delgado announced his campaign in June, challenging Gov. Kathy Hochul in the 2026 Democratic primary election. He spoke with community members at his event Wednesday at the Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center.
Before Wednesday’s event, Delgado said he chose to challenge Hochul as a current member of her administration because “the system is broken.” He said he has not seen “decisive, transformational leadership that is tied to a vision” from Hochul during his time in the administration.
He said he wanted to come to Oneonta especially as a former representative for New York’s 19th congressional district, but added that “all communities are important to engage with.”
“It’s important to understand and hear from everybody across the state if you want to be the kind of leader that puts people first,” Delgado said. “Certainly as a candidate that does not take corporate PAC money, that is working hard for public matching program funds, it is important that getting out there, engaging with the people, listening and putting them front and center is the ultimate priority for me.”
Before Delgado addressed the crowd at Foothills, Otsego County Democratic Committee Chairperson Caitlin Ogden said that Otsego County saw a record-breaking election cycle in November. She acknowledged other elected officials that attended the event, like Cooperstown village trustee Cynthia Falk, county board representatives Adrienne Martini and Nora Mendez, town of Milford treasurer Jon Coffin and town of Oneonta supervisor-elect Will Rivera.
The status quo is not working, Delgado said. He said he believed he would be better off than his parents, but many young kids today are not going to be better off. The narrative of upward mobility has become lost, he said.
“Here in New York, a state that you would hope would be a blueprint for how to navigate these national dynamics actually is only a reflection of them,” Delgado said.
He added that one out of every five kids in the state are living in poverty, and two out of five households cannot afford basic needs like rent, childcare and health care. The middle class is shrinking, and there is a continuously growing working poor, Delgado said.
There are people throughout the state “demanding more,” he said. Individuals were drawn to vote for Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani in November’s mayoral election in New York City because he he was antiestablishment and anti-status quo, Delgado said, and Hochul represents the status quo.
“People want something stronger, something that is clear, something that is direct, that helps us understand not just what it means to fight against Trump, but what are we fighting for?” Delgado said.
Rent needs to be stabilized across the state, Delgado said, and there is legislation to help achieve that. In regards to health care, he pushed the New York Health Act, which according to the state Senate website would “create a single-payer system with the goal of providing universal healthcare for all New York residents.”
During the question-and-answer period, JayLynn Garelick, who sits on the city of Oneonta Housing Commission, asked how, in a large state, Delgado plans to address a lack of subsidized housing in various areas and how he plans to fix logistical elements of systems that are meant to help people. She said, for instance, that the state phone tree immediately hangs up on callers looking for assistance.
Delgado said the state is not “leveraging enough resources.”
Delgado grew up in Schenectady and graduated from Harvard Law School. As lieutenant governor, he has traveled more than 60,000 miles throughout the state to hear from New Yorkers, according to a campaign flyer.
“The country needs New York to lead,” Delgado said. “The world needs New York to lead, and that means having a vision for the people, a vision that puts people at the center of our democracy, not corporate power. People at the center of our democracy, and that is exactly what we are going to do moving forward.”