Antonio Delgado Becomes 33rd Democrat to Retire from House

First-term Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-N.Y.) in a file photo. (US House of Representatives)

U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-N.Y.) will step down after 2022 to run for New York lieutenant governor under Gov. Kathy Hochul, marking the 33rd Democrat to retire in a season expected to see major Republican gains.

Delgado will join Hochul, who replaced disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in August 2021, on the campaign trail in the coming New York gubernatorial race as her running mate.

“I am proud to announce I am appointing Congressman Antonio Delgado, an outstanding leader and public servant, as Lieutenant Governor of New York,” Hochul said in a Twitter thread announcing the decision. “I look forward to working with him to usher in a new era of fairness, equity, and prosperity for communities across the State.”

“With Antonio Delgado by my side serving as Lieutenant Governor, we will both make history—and make a difference,” Hochul’s thread concluded.

“Having won competitive primary and general elections for Congress, Representative Antonio Delgado is a battle-tested campaigner who has the experience to serve New Yorkers and the work ethic to get our party’s message out to voters, unite communities and lift up Democratic candidates statewide,” Hochul added in a separate statement.

Delgado was first elected to Congress in 2018 amid a larger wave of blue victories that saw several GOP-held seats fall to Democrats. In 2020, Delgado managed to retain his seat as Republicans began to close the gap in votes, but redistricting from the census could have left him vulnerable to GOP incursion later this year.

According to data compiled by FiveThirtyEight, Delgado as of March 9 voted with President Joe Biden 100 percent of the time during the 117th Congress.

Following the announcement, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC)—a top GOP electioneering and fundraising firm—released a statement on the retirement, accusing Delgado of seeking a way to stay in politics ahead of November’s rough-and-tumble election.

“Antonio Delgado is the most recent House Democrat to call it quits,” the statement said. “Delgado is seeking the fastest exit from his doomed reelection bid to join Gov. Kathy Hochul’s corrupt administration.”

Samantha Bullock, spokeswoman for the NRCC, added, “Antonio Delgado was smart and got a jump on the job market before he and the rest of his House Democrat colleagues lose this fall.”

Delgado’s announcement makes him the 33rd Democrat in the House to announce that they will not seek reelection, including other prominent Democrats like House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.)—the only Democrat in the U.S. Congress’s current Kentucky delegation.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has continued to express the expectation that Democrats will hang onto the House in 2022. But several Republicans have taken the almost unprecedented string of retirements as an indicator that even Democrats know they’re in trouble come November.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), for his part, has maintained that he thinks the party will sweep the polls later this year, rejecting contentions by some that the party was becoming “overconfident.”