New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, who is mounting a longshot Democratic primary challenge against his boss, Gov. Kathy Hochul, as she runs for re-election, is choosing a far-left politician with a history of legal and financial troubles as his running mate.
Delgado on Wednesday named former Buffalo mayoral candidate India Walton, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, as his running mate in an effort to beef up his support among progressives as he runs from the left against Hochul, a moderate Democrat.
“India Walton represents exactly the kind of transformational and morally courageous leadership New Yorkers are hungry for,” Delgado said in a statement. “She has never been afraid to challenge the status quo, stand up to powerful interests and put working families first.”
Walton grabbed national headlines in 2021 by pulling off an upset victory over Buffalo Mayor Bryon Brown in the Democratic primary. Her primary victory was seen as a sign at the time of the rise of the progressive movement. But she ended up losing in a landslide in the general election to Brown, who ran as a write-in candidate.
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It was during that heated campaign battle that her past troubles, including a 2014 arrest, in which she was charged with second-degree harassment, grabbed attention. Walton said at the time that the charge was due to a disagreement with a fellow student at a children’s hospital.
“When I politely told them I’d like to speak with them personally and handle the situation like adults, one claimed that they were threatened by me and feared for their life despite the fact that I am (4-foot-11) and was going on disability for surgery,” Walton told WIVB-TV.
The case was later dismissed in court.
A year later, Walton was ticketed for aggravated unlicensed operation during a traffic stop.
And Walton had two earlier legal controversies. The Erie County Department of Social Services brought a fraud case against her over food stamp assistance in 2003, and, a year later, Walton and her husband at the time appeared on a tax warrant issued by state officials over unpaid back taxes. Documents show it took them five years to pay off the penalties and interest owed.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Delgado campaign for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
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Delgado launched his bid for governor in June, a rare instance of a lieutenant governor taking on a sitting governor.
His move to name Walton as his running mate will likely be overshadowed later this week if New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, endorses Hochul.
The governor backed Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, in September as he battled former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa in the mayoral race in the nation’s most populous city.
Politico reports that Mamdani will return the favor and endorse Hochul later this week.
The latest public opinion poll in the Democratic primary race from Siena University indicated Hochul has a massive 53-point lead over Delgado.
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Hochul also named her running mate on Wednesday, choosing Adrienne Adams, who served as speaker of the New York City Council from 2022 to 2025.
“I’m grateful to begin building the next chapter of New York’s future with Adrienne Adams, our next Lieutenant Governor,” Hochul said in her announcement on Wednesday. “Raised by two union workers, Adrienne knows what it means to work hard and stand up for those who need it most.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is the all-but-certain GOP gubernatorial nominee.
President Donald Trump endorsed Blakeman in December after Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik dropped her bid for governor.
Blakeman, in a statement, took aim at Hochul’s running mate.
“Leave it to Kathy Hochul to select a radical running mate that welcomed the migrant crisis, defunded the NYPD by a billion dollars, and chased away thousands of jobs to other states,” Blakeman argued.
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