This morning is the funeral of former New York Lt. Gov. Mary Anne Krupsak, who died last month at age 92. A half century ago, she had a very rough four-year tenure as the state’s No. 2, being at odds with Gov. Hugh Carey, who she then unsuccessfully challenged for the top job. It was bad for Krupsak, bad for Carey and bad for New York. The cause was the dumb way of nominating LGs for the ticket, which also resulted in other conflicting pairings, and must be repaired before next year’s gubernatorial election.
In 1974, Carey ran in an open primary for governor and Krupsak ran in an open primary for LG. But Carey preferred a different LG candidate, Mario Cuomo. Krupsak beat Cuomo and she became Carey’s running mate and then his LG when they jointly won the general election. It was an unhappy team.
A better method would be to change state election law to have gubernatorial nominees pick their own running mates, like is done for vice president, ending the possible political odd couples and making sure the LG is aligned and loyal to the governor.
When New York declared independence from England and created its own Constitution in 1777, there was a governor and lieutenant governor, separately and independently elected. Usually they would be of the same party, but in 1846, Whig John Young ousted a Democratic governor, but Democrat LG Addison Gardiner was reelected. In 1850, Whig Washington Hunt and Democrat LG Sanford Church both won. It happened again in 1906 when Republican Charles Evans Hughes and Dem LG Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler were elected. The most recent case was 100 years ago, in 1924 when Democrat Gov. Al Smith won, but so did Republican Seymour Lowman as LG.
There was a proposed constitutional amendment to have joint tickets in 1945, but the voters said no. Finally, in 1953, a constitutional amendment was approved and that has been the case since the 1954 gubernatorial election.
However, while the gov and LG are now always of the same party, they still might be rivals instead of partners. That happened in 1974 with Krupsak and Carey and again in 1982, when Mario Cuomo was elected governor, but his LG nominee, Al DelBello, was not who he wanted. After they were jointly elected, Cuomo froze DelBello out so much that DelBello quit after just two years.
Another LG who rebelled was Betsy McCaughey Ross, who ended up running against her boss George Pataki in 1998. And now the incumbent LG, Antonio Delgado, looks like he’s getting ready to challenge his boss, Gov. Hochul, in 2026. Enough already.
Delgado, who was Hochul’s choice in 2022, won a contested primary against two other contenders. Had Delgado lost that primary, Hochul would have been saddled with someone she didn’t want and she might have lost the general election. If Hochul and her unwanted LG managed to win, would the governor be able to trust the No. 2 to not do anything rash like signing or vetoing bills or issuing pardons when Hochul went out of state?
Like the vice president, the LG should be there to dutifully defer to the top person and be ready to take over in case of an unexpected vacancy. There is no constitutional amendment needed, just a change in election law. Make it happen this year, before the 2026 elections.