Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado wants to help New Yorkers "know their own power"
NEW YORK — In New York, lieutenant governor is a position that flies mostly under the radar, until it doesn't.
Twice in the last 16 years, New York's governors have resigned amid scandal, and the lieutenant governor has had to step up. David Paterson assumed the governorship after Eliot Spitzer's resignation in 2008, and Kathy Hochul replaced Andrew Cuomo in 2021.
Antonio Delgado is New York's current second in command, and CBS News New York's Maurice DuBois had the opportunity to spend the day with him.
Delgado visiting college campuses to hear from communities
"Lieutenant governor. Relatively obscure, shall we say? Not everybody knows you when you walk into the room," DuBois said.
"I think we represent a different mindset in terms of how we view power and what the role of service is," Delgado said.
Delgado takes his power to the people around New York state from the front seat of his SUV.
"This is the life of the lieutenant governor. You're riding like this every day, right?" DuBois said.
"Just about, yeah," Delgado said.
"This is where you grind it out, where you do the work, where you're thinking about the next stop," DuBois said.
"But, you know, there's a lot of thought going on and a lot of action inside my head in terms of trying to understand what the community has, has shared with me," Delgado said.
The day that DuBois caught up with Delgado, that community was a group of grad students at Baruch College. He's visited nearly two dozen campuses as part of his service and civic engagement initiative.
Delgado is a Rhodes Scholar, a graduate of Harvard Law School and, for five years, pursued as a hip-hop artist on a mission to speak truth to power.
"I was, even at that point, very disillusioned with the ways in which legal intuitions and/or political institutions could bring about the kind of change that I was searching for," Delgado told the Baruch College students.
He was also a lawyer and served three years in Congress, representing New York's 19th District upstate, before Hochul chose him as lieutenant governor.
Delgado aims to help New Yorkers "get 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?"
"When you go listen to folks, you should go in with a purpose to understand. You have folks around you that might take notes, as well. But I like, I like taking my own notes," Delgado said.
"And the kids were impressed by that, by the way, they saw that ... Second in command in New York state is listening to us," DuBois said.
"When I was younger, I didn't really feel proximity to power ... So everything I do, from the note taking to, you know, the way we engage, the way I listen, is all very intentional, because it's meant to help folks get comfortable with proximity to power, so that they can know their own power," Delgado said.
"As you're sitting in this place of thought and, you know, being pensive, do rhymes come to mind?" DuBois said.
"The short answer is yes. My music was my way to give voice to my own questions about how to make change," Delgado said.
"Surely some lyrics come to mind that apply to the moment, right?" DuBois said.
"I'm not gonna rhyme it, but you know, leaning on you with some weight, that'll uplift you. Beyond logic, the flow is like some good scripture. Picture hip-hop, when we used to beatbox, something like that, something to make the streets hot ... It's love, right? It's power," Delgado said.
Delgado on leading with love
"How does having these two 11-year-old boys and your lovely wife, you know, your partner here, how does that inform what you do on a daily basis?" DuBois asked.
"It's hard not to get emotional thinking about my family and my wife and my kids ... They, 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 go into the Service Corps.
"I love every one of you. Thank you so much for the work you are doing," 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 type of leadership, you know. And I get it, you know, politics ... can be a messy game," Delgado told DuBois.