Anna Maria Archie was at the state capitol on the last day of May to rally for an affordable housing Bill But she and a handful of activists carved out a few minutes to walk down to lieutenant governor Antonio Delgado's office Delgado wasn't there that day So instead our Sheila made her case to the person working the front desk Well my name is Anna Maria I'm a candidate for lieutenant governor And I came here Archie is a longtime activist from Brooklyn She cofounded make the road New York and influential immigrant rights organization And now she's making her first run for office pitting her in a three way race with Delgado and Diana Reina a former New York City council member Reina is a moderate running to Delgado's right while Archie is running on his left The lieutenant governor should be a champion of people not just someone who goes around the state cutting ribbons and representing the governor and saying yes and staying quiet but someone who is the lieutenant governor's primary doesn't usually generate much buzz in New York It's not a particularly glamorous role with no real constitutional responsibilities aside from being next in line to the governor's office But this year's race is different It was completely upended just two months ago As states lieutenant governor has just resigned Brian Benjamin turned himself over to federal authorities Prosecutors say it was a scheme to obtain thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions Benjamin was governor Kathy hochul's pick for lieutenant governor after she took office in August But he spent just 6 months in the role before a bribery scandal did him in Hoku picked Delgado to replace him in May He represented part of the Hudson valley in Congress but he's not well known across the state and he doesn't have much time before the primary Delgado touted his credentials during a debate on spectrum news this week I bring to bear a certain level of experience a certain record And what I come into this position the expectation is that I'm an active partner Electing a lieutenant governor isn't like the federal system where the presidential nominees pick their own running mate New York world separate primaries for governor and lieutenant governor then the winners from each party are paired together as a single ticket in November The arrangement goes back decades and it's led to some awkward situations in 1982 governor Mario Cuomo found himself paired up with Al del Bello who would endorse Cuomo's rival Ed Koch It didn't last long Del Bello quit two years into Cuomo's first term This year hoku is running with Delgado and archila is running with jumani Williams the New York City public advocate Diana reyna is paired up with Long Island congressman Tom swazi and raina says she and swazi are committed to the same vision We want to change the direction of our state We want to provide leadership We want to demonstrate what is our proven record We want to be able to bridge build State senator Michael gianaris is a Democrat from queens who co chairs our chiles campaign He says separate primaries give voters more choice And if the voters choose candidates from rival campaigns so be it A lot of people have made noise about how the government should have a partner I think the governor should have someone who pushes her to be better Robert Duffy doesn't see it that way He served a term as Andrew Cuomo's lieutenant governor and he says the job would have been miserable if he didn't have a good relationship with the governor If you are somebody who is a lieutenant governor who is not wanted by the governor you may want to be the quote unquote activist LG having press conferences and seeing what you want to say but after about four weeks nobody would probably listen any longer The primary is set for June 28th Republicans have already settled on their candidate NYPD veteran Allison esposito was the only one to enter the GOP race John Campbell WNYC news Marketplace morning reporters coming up next and then in ten minutes at 9 o'clock it's the BBC NewsHour 93.9 FM Let's check him in London to see what they're working on London good morning Good morning WNYC I'm Tim Franks on today's NewsHour will Ukraine formally move closer today to joining the European Union and if so so what That's BBC NewsHour coming up at 9 or 93.9 FM WNYC WNYC is supported by Walt and local meet committed to a more sustainable food system by offering home delivery of grass fed and pasture raised beef chicken pork and wild caught Atlantic seafood all from local partner farmers more at Walden local meat.