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    Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado Fends Off Challenge From Left in N.Y. Primary

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    Antonio Delgado, the lieutenant governor of New York, won the Democratic primary on Tuesday, scoring a convincing victory over his nearest challenger, Ana María Archila, a longtime activist who had emerged as the left wing’s best chance of winning statewide office this election cycle.Mr. Delgado prevailed despite his late entry into the race just last month, when Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed him as her second-in-command and running mate, replacing former Lt. Gov. Brian A. Benjamin, who was arrested on federal campaign finance fraud charges.But in just a few weeks, Mr. Delgado, a former congressman from the Hudson Valley, managed to overwhelm his opponents with millions of dollars spent on television ads and campaign mailers. With Ms. Hochul’s backing, he secured the party’s institutional support and endorsements from major labor unions, giving him a definitive edge as he rushed to introduce himself to voters statewide.The election for the state’s second-highest office became one the most compelling and closely watched contests in Tuesday’s primary after Mr. Benjamin’s resignation rocked the race. It cast a spotlight on a typically low-profile office with few statutory duties besides succeeding the governor — a once-rare occurrence that has nonetheless come to pass for two of the last three governors.The race set off competing visions of an office typically used to amplify the governor’s agenda and touched on divisive issues around ideology, Latino representation in government and the influence of money in the State Capitol.A Guide to New York’s 2022 Primary ElectionsAs prominent Democratic officials seek to defend their records, Republicans see opportunities to make inroads in general election races.Governor’s Race: Gov. Kathy Hochul is trying to fend off energetic challenges from two fellow Democrats, while the four-way G.O.P. contest has been playing in part like a referendum on Donald J. Trump.Where the Candidates Stand: Ahead of the primaries for governor on June 28, our political reporters questioned the seven candidates on crime, taxes, abortion and more.Maloney vs. Nadler: New congressional lines have put the two stalwart Manhattan Democrats — including New York City’s last remaining Jewish congressman — on a collision course in the Aug. 23 primary.15 Democrats, 1 Seat: A newly redrawn House district in New York City may be one of the largest and most freewheeling primaries in the nation.Offensive Remarks: Carl P. Paladino, a Republican running for a House seat in Western New York, recently drew backlash for praising Adolf Hitler in an interview dating back to 2021.And it presented a potentially awkward outcome for Ms. Hochul: Had Ms. Archila scored an upset, Ms. Hochul would have shared the Democratic ticket with a running mate not of her choice in the general election. Ms. Hochul and Mr. Delgado will now face off in November against the Republican ticket of Representative Lee Zeldin and Alison Esposito, a former police officer who ran unopposed for lieutenant governor.On Tuesday night, Mr. Delgado said that if Democrats needed a reminder of what’s at stake in November, they need look no further than the Supreme Court’s “disastrous” decision to take away a woman’s right to an abortion.“This is the fight of our lives,” Mr. Delgado said at an election night watch party at a Manhattan rooftop event space swirling with a who’s who of the state’s top Democrats.Mr. Delgado had won 60 percent of the Democratic primary vote, with 48 percent of the expected vote counted, according to The Associated Press. Ms. Archila had won 25 percent of the vote, followed by Diana Reyna, with 14 percent.Ms. Reyna 48, a former city councilwoman from Brooklyn, was the running mate of Representative Thomas Suozzi of Long Island, who unsuccessfully challenged Ms. Hochul in the primary.Mr. Delgado’s main competition was thought to be from Ms. Archila, the preferred candidate of the Working Families Party, who sought to galvanize the party’s left flank by mounting an insurgent campaign that garnered endorsements from Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Velázquez, and a slew of progressive groups. Running alongside Jumaane Williams, the New York City public advocate, Ms. Archila vowed to use the lieutenant governor’s office not as a ceremonial role but as an independent bully pulpit to push back against the governor’s office.In Ms. Archila, 43, the party’s progressive-activist wing saw its latest opportunity to catapult one of its own to statewide office for the first time, following a string of failed attempts in recent years: Mr. Williams himself came close to unseating Ms. Hochul when she was lieutenant governor in 2018.Diana Reyna, left; Ana María Archila, center; and Antonio Delgado, who won the race.Mary Altaffer/Pool, AP, via Associated PressBut Ms. Archila’s nimble campaign was no match for Mr. Delgado’s giant campaign war chest, which helped him outspend his opponents 80 to one on the airwaves.Mr. Delgado poured $5.3 million into the race to pay for a barrage of television and digital ads leading up to Election Day. The Archila campaign and the Working Families Party spent only $66,000 in ads on her behalf, according to AdImpact, a firm that tracks political ad spending.Mr. Delgado, 45, was elected to Congress in 2018 as part of the so-called blue wave during the Trump presidency, flipping a largely rural House seat in the Hudson Valley and becoming the first person of color to represent a New York district outside New York City and its suburbs in Washington.A newcomer to the intricacies of state politics, Mr. Delgado was recruited by Ms. Hochul in May to serve as her lieutenant governor and running mate after she muscled through legislation to remove Mr. Benjamin from the ballot after his arrest. The Hochul campaign saw in Mr. Delgado a proven campaigner who could potentially win in competitive districts and help Ms. Hochul, who is white, make inroads among Black and Latino communities.Mr. Delgado, who identifies as Afro-Latino, struggled to explain his Hispanic roots during his first news conference in Albany, upsetting Latino political leaders who were eager to elevate a Latino to statewide office for the first time in the state’s history. The concerns around his ethnicity were amplified by the two Latinas challenging him; Ms. Archila was born in Colombia, while Ms. Reyna is Dominican-American.On the campaign trail, Mr. Delgado often highlighted his upbringing in a working-class household in Schenectady and his polished résumé as a Rhodes scholar and graduate of Harvard Law School, as well as his brief stint as a rapper — an example, he has said, of an unplanned trajectory that led him to enter public service.Mr. Delgado has said he would work in close partnership with Ms. Hochul if elected for a full-term and, because of his connections in Washington, serve as a liaison between New York and the federal government.Dana Rubinstein More

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      Ocasio-Cortez to Endorse Ana María Archila in NY Lt. Governor Race

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      Ana María Archila, who would be the first Latina elected statewide, gained national attention after she confronted a senator over the Supreme Court confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.For much of her first term, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised her profile by fighting for nationwide initiatives favored by the far left, like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.But in recent months, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, whose district includes parts of Queens and the Bronx, has shown a strong interest in more local issues, and in lifting the profile of people far closer to home.On Wednesday, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez will make her first statewide endorsement in the contest for lieutenant governor, backing Ana María Archila, an activist who some on the left believe has a chance of becoming the first Latina elected to statewide office.Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is expected to appear at a rally for Ms. Archila on Monday, one day before the June 28 primary, and will also send out a fund-raising email. Ms. Archila’s campaign believes the endorsement will increase donors, volunteers and energize left-leaning Democrats to vote.Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement, which was confirmed by her spokeswoman, Lauren Hitt, may also encourage other national progressive Democratic leaders to take more interest in the contest.A Guide to New York’s 2022 Primary ElectionsAs prominent Democratic officials seek to defend their records, Republicans see opportunities to make inroads in general election races.Governor’s Race: Gov. Kathy Hochul, the incumbent, will face off against Jumaane Williams and Tom Suozzi in a Democratic primary on June 28.Adams’s Endorsement: The New York City mayor gave Ms. Hochul a valuable, if belated, endorsement that could help her shore up support among Black and Latino voters.15 Democrats, 1 Seat: A Trump prosecutor. An ex-congressman. Bill de Blasio. A newly redrawn House district in New York City may be one of the largest and most freewheeling primaries in the nation.Maloney vs. Nadler: The new congressional lines have put the two stalwart Manhattan Democrats on a collision course in the Aug. 23 primary.Offensive Remarks: Carl P. Paladino, a Republican running for a House seat in Western New York, recently drew backlash for praising Adolf Hitler in an interview dating back to 2021.“What A.O.C. represents is a constituency of young people who are so tired of the passivity of mainstream Democrats on the issues of our moment, whether it is climate, making progress on dismantling the racist structure in our legal system or standing with workers,” Ms. Archila said in an interview. “The future of the Democratic Party is this new wave and this new generation.”Ms. Archila, who is running in tandem with Jumaane D. Williams, the New York City public advocate, and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, know each other. In 2019, Ms. Archila was Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s guest at the State of the Union address, after she got national attention for confronting Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona in an elevator over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.Ms. Archila and another Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, Diana Reyna, face an uphill challenge in trying to defeat the newly installed incumbent, Antonio Delgado, a former congressman who left his House seat last month.Some elected officials and union leaders are worried that Gov. Kathy Hochul is running too low-key of a primary campaign, and that it could hurt the chances of Mr. Delgado, even though he has much more money than Ms. Archila.“While the opposition might want to take advantage of a sleepy electorate that is not aware of Election Day, we want as many voters as possible to know what is at stake in this race,” said Sochie Nnaemeka, the head of the New York State Working Families Party, which has endorsed Ms. Archila.An endorsement from Ms. Ocasio-Cortez does not guarantee victory. Last year, she endorsed Maya Wiley, a civil rights lawyer and former counsel for Mayor Bill de Blasio, in the race for mayor of New York City. Ms. Wiley came in third place in the Democratic primary.Ms. Ocasio-Cortez recently endorsed Alessandra Biaggi, a state senator representing parts of the Bronx and Westchester County, in her primary challenge to Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, a moderate Democrat.Ms. Ocasio-Cortez also has been willing to weigh in on local controversies, recently accusing the speaker of the New York City Council, Adrienne Adams, of playing “dirty politics,” amid accusations that she eliminated discretionary funding under her control of the left-leaning members who voted against the $101 billion budget.In May, she announced that she would be endorsing the entire slate of the New York Democratic Socialists’ candidates, as well as some backed by the progressive Working Families Party. The two left-leaning parties have occasionally been at odds with one another. This year they have aligned in support of a handful of challengers hoping to pick off long-serving incumbents in the State Legislature, in much the same way that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez herself did in 2018.In several races young women of color are challenging long-serving male incumbents in districts whose demographics have evolved during their time in office. Others are challenging heavy hitters such as Senate energy chair Kevin Parker. Opponents claim these veterans have not been responsive enough to progressive demands.The bulk of these challengers are looking for seats in the State Assembly, which some on the left have portrayed as an impediment to pushing a transformative agenda through the state legislature.There are national echoes in some of these races. Jonathan Soto, a former organizer for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez running with her endorsement, is hoping to unseat Assemblyman Michael Benedetto in the East Bronx. While campaigning to increase parental control over schools and expand access to health care, Mr. Soto has accused Mr. Benedetto of carrying water for conservatives, including the former president Donald J. Trump, who donated to him several years ago.Mr. Benedetto, who is backed by the state’s Democratic establishment, strongly rejected these claims. In a video posted to Twitter he announced, “Benedetto a Trump supporter? Garbage!” before tossing Mr. Soto’s campaign literature into an awaiting bin.Mr. Benedetto has echoed some conservative attacks on Ms. Ocasio-Cortez in pushing back at his opponent, whom he has sought to paint as an out-of-touch extremist.Assemblywoman Inez E. Dickens, who is facing a challenger backed by the congresswoman, took aim at Ms. Ocasio-Cortez directly: “She needs to really think about coming into my district because I will stand up and I will push back,” she said. More

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      Gov. Hochul’s Second-in-Command Faces Sharp Challenge From the Left

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      Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado faces two rivals in the June 28 primary, including Ana María Archila, an activist who won attention during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing.With a little more than a week until Primary Day in New York, the Democratic Party’s left wing is focused on a contentious statewide race shaped by issues of ideology, ethnicity and the influence of money and lobbying in Albany.The contest is not for governor: The incumbent, Kathy Hochul, enjoys a huge advantage in fund-raising and in public polls over the party’s most left-leaning challenger, Jumaane Williams, the New York City public advocate.But in Mr. Williams’s running mate, Ana María Archila, the far left sees a legitimate opportunity to capture the lieutenant governor’s race and gain a foothold in the State Capitol.Ms. Archila, a seasoned activist and first-time candidate backed by the Working Families Party, gained national attention when she confronted Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona in a Capitol Hill elevator during the hearings over the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, who had been accused of sexual assault.The viral moment, which she said was unplanned, led to her being invited by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as her guest to the State of the Union address in 2019.Now Ms. Archila is hoping to make her influence felt in Albany.The race for lieutenant governor has set off competing visions for the role of an office with few statutory duties, but which has nonetheless served as a familiar steppingstone for higher office: Two of the last three governors, including Ms. Hochul, ascended from lieutenant governor after their predecessors resigned amid scandal.Indeed, during a televised debate on Wednesday, Ms. Archila vowed to use the office of lieutenant governor — typically a ceremonial role with little power beyond presiding over the State Senate and being next in line to succeed the governor — as an independent bully pulpit that could serve as a counterweight to the governor’s office.“I will not be a lieutenant governor who’s quietly in the background, smiling and cutting ribbons,” Ms. Archila said, an apparent nod to Ms. Hochul, who was largely sidelined by the Cuomo administration when she held the post.Mr. Delgado left his House seat in the Hudson Valley to serve as Gov. Kathy Hochul’s No. 2.Jose A. Alvarado Jr. for The New York TimesMs. Archila stressed that the office was an elected position and should therefore not be deferential to the governor, saying that she would “stand up to the governor when he or she is veering away” from helping working people.The contest for lieutenant governor was thrown into turmoil in April, after former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin resigned after he was arrested on federal bribery charges.Ms. Hochul successfully pushed legislation to remove Mr. Benjamin’s name from the ballot and chose Antonio Delgado, then a congressman representing the Hudson Valley, as her new lieutenant governor and running mate.Despite his last-minute entry, Mr. Delgado entered the Democratic primary with the backing of Ms. Hochul’s campaign apparatus and support from the party establishment and key labor unions, as well as a sizable war chest he has swiftly deployed to flood the airwaves with television ads.During Wednesday’s debate, Mr. Delgado said he was chosen by Ms. Hochul as her second-in-command because of his record in Congress and to be an “active partner.”There is much at stake for Ms. Hochul: While the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run on the same ticket in the general election, they run separately in the June 28 primary. If Mr. Delgado were to lose, Ms. Hochul, who is favored to prevail in the Democratic primary, could potentially be forced to run with a lieutenant governor candidate not of her choosing in November. And if Ms. Archila were to win, Republicans would likely seek to link her left-wing credentials to Ms. Hochul, a more moderate Democrat.The race, which features three Latino candidates, could also mark a momentous milestone for Latinos eager to elevate one of their own to statewide office in New York for the first time, following a dearth in representation despite Latinos accounting for about one-fifth of the state’s population.Mr. Delgado, 45, identifies as Afro-Latino, though Latino leaders have questioned his heritage, while Ms. Archila, 43, was born and raised in Colombia. The third candidate, Diana Reyna, 48, became the first Dominican American woman elected to public office in the state when she represented parts of Brooklyn and Queens in the City Council.“When Latinos are not present at the table, our issues are not hyper-localized,” Ms. Reyna, who also served as Mayor Eric Adams’s deputy when he was borough president of Brooklyn, said in an interview this week. “We don’t represent communities of wealth, we represent the poor, the working class, the single family home that people want to keep and pass down to their children.”Diana Reyna, a former city councilwoman, is sharing a ticket with Representative Tom Suozzi of Long Island, who is running for governor.Jose A. Alvarado Jr. for The New York TimesBoth Ms. Archila and Ms. Reyna face an uphill climb to unseat Mr. Delgado, a moderate Democrat from Schenectady who was the first person of color elected to Congress in upstate New York after flipping a Republican-held House seat in 2018.For one, he has a significant fund-raising edge: Relying on money transferred from his congressional campaign account, he had about $2 million as of May, more than six times the amount that his challengers had combined. Mr. Delgado has so far spent over $4 million on television and digital ads since he was appointed lieutenant governor, according to AdImpact, a firm that tracks television ad spending.He has run the ads — which highlight his résumé as a Rhodes Scholar, a Harvard Law School graduate and brief career as a rap artist — while skipping most candidate debates and forums, avoiding potential scrutiny, much to the chagrin of his opponents.Mr. Delgado said he has been busy settling into office, but that he has also been “on the ground connecting with people” at subway stations and with small business owners and clergy members.He has also received outside help from a super PAC funded by the billionaire founder of a cryptocurrency exchange platform that has spent about $1 million in ads supporting him. He insisted during the Wednesday debate that his decision-making would not be influenced by outside money, saying that he did not “know who this crypto billionaire is.”The party’s progressive-activist wing is seeking to build on its partial success from 2018, when Mr. Williams, the New York City public advocate, mounted an insurgent campaign for lieutenant governor and came within six percentage points of defeating Ms. Hochul, beating her in Manhattan and Brooklyn in the Democratic primary.Indeed, Ms. Archila’s campaign is hoping to perform strongly among Latino voters and left-leaning white liberals from New York City, as well as those in progressive hotbeds along the Hudson River and the Capital Region. But Mr. Delgado, who is a more familiar face in the Hudson Valley, could potentially pick away at that wall of support and splinter the Latino vote, while attracting many Black voters, according to political analysts.Strapped for money, Ms. Archila has run a vigorous low-budget campaign grounded on the organizing tactics from her decades-long work as an activist. She has joined unionizing Starbucks workers in Queens; protested alongside activists in the State Capitol; and pulled off publicity stunts, such as showing up at Mr. Delgado’s office in Albany after he refused to participate in a debate.Ms. Archila has spearheaded efforts to organize immigrant communities, most notably through Make the Road New York, a grass-roots organization she co-founded in 2007 that is supporting her campaign.She was taking a break from political organizing earlier this year when the Working Families Party — a progressive third party — asked her in February if she would run for lieutenant governor alongside Mr. Williams, their candidate for governor. Together, the two have proposed far-reaching plans to build affordable housing, enact universal health care and allocate $3 billion in cash payments to immigrant workers who did not qualify for pandemic relief.“New York State is such a rich state,” Ms. Archila said over bubble tea in Flushing, Queens, last week after receiving an endorsement from State Senator John Liu. “Our problem is never that we lack resources, our problem is that we prioritize the interests of those who have already so much and who are able to use their leverage, their money to influence our policies.”In Ana María Archila, who is backed by the Working Families Party, the far left sees a legitimate opportunity to capture the lieutenant governor’s race.Janice Chung for The New York TimesHer campaign appeared to gain some steam following Mr. Benjamin’s arrest, as a group of city and state lawmakers, as well as Representatives Nydia Velázquez and Jamaal Bowman, endorsed her candidacy. As for a possible endorsement from Ms. Ocasio-Cortez: “We’re working on it,” Ms. Archila said.It remains unclear if those endorsements will translate into more votes, especially in a contest that seldom engages voters.During Mr. Liu’s endorsement outside a public library in Flushing, some curious commuters briefly stopped to listen to Ms. Archila as she spoke, her aide holding an iPhone to livestream the event to the two people watching remotely.Maria Estrada, 72, a Bolivian immigrant and registered Democrat, stopped to pick up campaign literature. A frequent voter, she said her largest concerns were helping house people who were homeless.Asked who she would vote for in the race for lieutenant governor, she said:“I don’t know. Whoever is Hispanic.” More

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      Hochul’s Lt. Governor Pick Says He Is Afro-Latino. Some Latinos Object.

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      The three major Democrats running to become New York’s second-in-command have Latino roots, but Antonio Delgado’s claim to the heritage is being challenged.In New York’s Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, one goal had unified two outsider candidates, Diana Reyna and Ana Maria Archila: vying to be the first Latino elected to statewide office.Achieving that objective has now gotten more complicated.This month, Gov. Kathy Hochul named Representative Antonio Delgado as her new lieutenant governor and running mate, replacing Brian Benjamin, who resigned in April after being indicted on federal bribery charges.In announcing the choice, Ms. Hochul heralded Mr. Delgado’s Afro-Latino ethnicity, and noted his membership in both the Black and Hispanic congressional caucuses.Prominent Latino Democrats, who lobbied Ms. Hochul on the decision and have long pushed for greater representation in state government, were quick to celebrate an appointment that, once it becomes official, will make Mr. Delgado the first Latino to hold statewide office in New York.But as the congratulatory statements began to circulate, so did questions about Mr. Delgado’s background, putting a spotlight on issues of ethnicity, self-identity and representation in advance of the June 28 primary.Asked about his Afro-Latino heritage at the news conference where he was introduced as Ms. Hochul’s choice for lieutenant governor, Mr. Delgado gave a winding answer. He said people had surmised that he was Afro-Latino because of his name, or perhaps because he briefly lived in Puerto Rico, where he played semipro basketball. He then seemed to suggest that his Latino heritage stemmed from his family’s ties to Cape Verde, a small island nation off the west coast of Africa that was once a Portuguese colony.The answer mystified some of his supporters, and created an opening for his opponents to scrutinize his claims of being Latino.Luis A. Miranda Jr., a founding partner of the MirRam Group, a political consulting firm, posted celebratory comments on Twitter about Mr. Delgado’s appointment when it was announced. But after hearing his remarks at the news conference, Mr. Miranda said he was “puzzled by his explanation on ethnicity.”Mr. Delgado, in an interview with The New York Times, described the complexity of how he views his ethnicity. He said his mother grew up at a time when she felt safe identifying only as Black or white, but eventually embraced the Mexican, Colombian and Venezuelan ancestry of her father, whom she did not know.“She became someone who identifies as a proud Black woman with Latino roots,” Mr. Delgado said in the interview. “And as I’ve tried to orient myself and my sense of identity through her, that is the entry point.”Asked how he identified himself, Mr. Delgado said: “I am a Black American man with Cape Verdean roots and Latino roots. When it pertains to my Latino roots, that comes from my mom’s side, whose own story around her identity is multifaceted and complex.”When Ms. Hochul picked Mr. Benjamin for the job, her choice was influenced by a desire to have her running mate be a person of color from the New York City area as a way to help broaden her appeal beyond her base as a white politician from western New York.Mr. Delgado offered many of the same qualities, giving the governor a running mate with name recognition and the potential to appeal to downstate Black and Latino voters as she seeks a full term this year.Ms. Archila, who has been endorsed by Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the House, and Ms. Reyna said they understood why Ms. Hochul would want a Latino running mate. Latinos are the second-largest ethnic group in the state and make up 19 percent of the population. But the two women questioned Mr. Delgado’s rationale for describing himself as Latino and cast Ms. Hochul’s decision as a political ploy.“Gov. Hochul is being extremely opportunistic and simplistic,” said Ms. Archila, whose running mate is Jumaane Williams, New York City’s public advocate. “I think he should say more than, I have an ancestor who once was born in Colombia.”In selecting Mr. Delgado, Gov. Kathy Hochul, right, chose a running mate of color who may appeal to downstate voters who are not part of her natural base.Cindy Schultz for The New York TimesMs. Reyna, whose running mate is Representative Thomas R. Suozzi, said at a recent campaign event that a “last name does not make you Latino.” The first statewide Latino official should be “authentic,” have “lived experience” and a record of helping Latino communities, she told Encuentro New York, a Latino advocacy group.“She tells us that her lieutenant governor is a member of the Latino community,” Ms. Reyna said of the governor. “This is not about identity politics. This is about being truthful.”Ms. Hochul and her campaign have said little about the questions surrounding Mr. Delgado’s ethnicity. They referred to him as Afro-Latino in the third line of a news release announcing his appointment; an email sent out the next day about a fund-raiser did not mention his ethnicity.“He identifies as Afro-Latino,” Jerrel Harvey, a spokesman for Ms. Hochul’s campaign, said.The focus on Mr. Delgado’s ethnicity adds a new wrinkle to the primary for lieutenant governor, which was upended after the resignation of Mr. Benjamin, the presumptive favorite. For weeks, it appeared that he would remain on the primary ballot despite the criminal charges, but state lawmakers ultimately passed a bill allowing him to remove himself.It was then that Ms. Hochul chose Mr. Delgado to succeed Mr. Benjamin.Camille Rivera, a Democratic political strategist who identifies as Afro-Latina, said Ms. Hochul had missed an opportunity to energize an important voting bloc that could help decide the general election. Among the issues Latino leaders say they want state government to address are affordable housing, child care and inequalities in health care.“You have no statewide Latino representation, right?” Ms. Rivera said. “Here was an opportunity to actually lift up Latinos in a real way.”There has been little scrutiny of Mr. Delgado’s Latino heritage. Several news articles over the years have identified him incorrectly as Puerto Rican. Some articles from 2018, when he defeated John J. Faso, the Republican incumbent, to claim the House seat representing the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions, referred to him as Black.Asked whether he had ever corrected the record about being Puerto Rican before the news conference where he was introduced as lieutenant governor, Mr. Delgado said in a statement that he was “raised as a blend of heritages,” including “Latino roots.”“That’s the background I grew up with and how I identify,” he said in the statement. “My mom’s maiden name is Gomez and she grew up identifying as having Latina roots.”Racism and colorism may also play a role in how Mr. Delgado’s description of being Afro-Latino is being received, said Representative Ritchie Torres of the Bronx, who identifies as Afro-Latino.“I find it curious that those of us with Black skin often have our Latino identity questioned,” said Mr. Torres, who supports Mr. Delgado. “As an Afro-Latino, I have been told repeatedly that I do not look Latino, whatever that means, and therefore, I must be less authentically Latino than those with lighter skin.”Zaire Z. Dinzey-Flores, an associate professor of Latino and Caribbean Studies at Rutgers University, said she understood why some Latinos were upset about the appointment. Being Afro-Latino in the United States, she said, involves a complicated mix of race, language and culture.“Experience informs what you see, how you perceive things, how you bring in issues that might go unseen or unrecognized,” Professor Dinzey-Flores said. Choosing someone from an Afro-Latino background so that constituency is represented in government, she added, should be about “authentically” capturing that experience and not “checking a box.”Melissa Mark-Viverito, a former New York City Council speaker who was born and raised in Puerto Rico, concurred, saying that Mr. Delgado’s claim of Latino heritage “raises the question and the concern of people loosely taking on certain identities and not being completely honest.”“That concerns me because as someone who fully embraces the importance of representation, we have two qualified Latinas running and a chance to make history,” Ms. Mark-Viverito said, referring to Ms. Reyna and Ms. Archila. “Yet it feels like we are being duped. It’s all very messy.”Days after Ms. Hochul named him as Mr. Benjamin’s successor, Mr. Delgado gave a 15-minute speech at the Harlem headquarters of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. Mr. Sharpton said he was surprised that Mr. Delgado did not address the confusion about his Afro-Latino identity.“I think it’s something he can’t ignore,” Mr. Sharpton said in an interview after Mr. Delgado spoke that day.Instead, Mr. Delgado reminisced about growing up in a Black Baptist church and drew hearty amens and nods of approval from the mostly Black crowd. He talked about why he pursued a career as a rapper after graduating from Harvard Law School, an issue opponents tried to use against him when he first ran for Congress.“I know the power of the culture,” Mr. Delgado said. “I am the culture.” More