Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado launches political action committee – Daily Freeman

Then-Democratic congressional candidate Antonio Delgado speaks in the Senate Garage in Kingston, N.Y., Friday, Oct. 26, 2018, as Joe Biden, then-former vice president, looks on. Delgado, a Rhinebeck resident, won the race and is now New York’s lieutenant governor. (Tania Barricklo/Daily Freeman, File)

RHINEBECK, NY – Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, a Democrat from Rhinebeck, has launched a political action committee called Voice PAC to help elect Democrats in swing districts like the 19th Congressional District, which he represents in Congress.

“It is with this core belief in America’s desire for unity rather than division that I decided to create VOICE PAC, an organization dedicated to reaching out to voters in swing districts like the one I represent,” Delgado said in an email announcing the PAC’s creation. “Our goal is to elect more Democrats who are committed to making the lives of the people they serve better, rather than promoting an extremist ideology.”

Delgado said these extremists were involved in his campaign for Congress.

“My opponents launched a multi-million dollar racist advertising campaign against me, trying to portray me as a threat to my own community because I happened to be a hip-hop artist at one point in my life,” he said.

At that time he used the pseudonym AD the Voice.

“I have watched what is happening in Congress – so-called civil servants are using this most sacred institution for partisan political games and blindly supporting someone who leads with fear and division and threatens the integrity of our democracy,” Delgado said. “Democrats urgently need to regain control of the House of Representatives, and I believe we can do that by targeting the right constituencies and fielding candidates who can win.”

According to Federal Elections Commission records, Voice PAC was registered in 2023 and currently has $88,452.82 in cash.

The political action committee’s website, voicepacny.org, was registered on April 4, according to who.is.

In May 2022, Delgado, whose district included Ulster and Northern Dutchess counties, was appointed Lieutenant Governor of New York by Governor Kathy Hochul.

During a press conference with Hochul at the time, Delgado said he took the job to expand his sphere of influence across the state.

Delgado is Afro-Latino, the first person of color to represent Upstate New York in Congress, and was a member of both the Black and Hispanic Congressional Caucuses.

He assumed the largely ceremonial role previously held by Brian Benjamin, who resigned following his arrest on federal corruption charges, which he denied.

Delgado is from upstate New York, grew up in Schenectady and lives in Rhinebeck.

He attended Colgate University and received a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, before earning his law degree from Harvard Law School.

Delgado was first elected to Congress in 2018. He served as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit and is a member of the House Small Business and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees.

Delgado had won his swing district, ousting Republican Jonh Faso.