Lieutenant Governor of New York
The lieutenant governor of New York is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the Government of the State of New York. It is the second highest-ranking official in state government. The lieutenant governor is elected on a ticket with the governor for a four-year term. Official duties dictated to the lieutenant governor under the present New York Constitution are to serve as president of the state senate, serve as acting governor in the absence of the governor from the state or the disability of the governor, or to become governor in the event of the governor's death, resignation or removal from office via impeachment. Additional statutory duties of the lieutenant governor are to serve on the New York Court for the Trial of Impeachments, the State Defense Council, and on the board of trustees of the College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The lieutenant governor of New York is the highest-paid lieutenant governor in the country.
For a list, see List of lieutenant governors of New York.Lieutenant Governor of New York
- Lieutenant Governor (informal)
- The Honorable (formal)
- His Excellency
(courtesy) - Mr. President
(When presiding over Senate)
Four years, no term limit
July 30, 1777
First
$210,000 (2020)
The office is currently held by Antonio Delgado, who was sworn in on May 25, 2022.
Most lieutenant governors take on other duties as assigned to them by the governor. For example, Mary Donohue took on duties in the areas of small business, school violence, and land-use planning, along with serving as a surrogate speaker for the governor in upstate New York. Donohue's predecessor, Betsy McCaughey Ross, worked on Medicare and education policy, before her falling out with Governor George Pataki. Democrat Stan Lundine, who served under Governor Mario Cuomo, was active on technology and housing issues during his two terms in office.
While governor and lieutenant governor are elected by a single joint vote in the general election, they run separately in the primaries. In 1982, Mario Cuomo won the Democratic nomination for governor, but his running mate H. Carl McCall lost the lieutenant governor nomination to Alfred DelBello. DelBello was elected with Cuomo, but resigned in 1985, complaining that Cuomo did not give him anything to do.
McCaughey Ross had been elected on a ticket with Pataki in 1994 but soon broke with him on state policy. He dropped her from his 1998 re-election ticket, and she became a Democrat and ran for governor on the Liberal ticket.
Thirteen years before Hochul succeeded Cuomo as governor, Lieutenant Governor David Paterson succeeded to the governorship in the same manner, when Eliot Spitzer resigned on March 17, 2008. Mario Cuomo was the last lieutenant governor to be elected governor.