Ana María Archila didn’t expect to find herself campaigning on her opponent’s home turf this week. But 24 hours before her appearance in Kingston to promote statewide Good Cause Eviction legislation, Antonio Delgado was not the Working Families Party-endorsed candidate for lieutenant governor’s opponent.

“We had this event planned for some weeks,” said Archila, who’s running on the WFP ticket with fellow downstate progressive and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. “But you know, sometimes the universe conspires.”

As it stands today, Democratic gubernatorial primary voters will have three sets of candidates to choose from: Williams and Archila; Gov. Kathy Hochul and Lt. Gov. Delgado; and Long Island Congressman Tom Suozzi and New York City Councilwoman Diana Reyna. Voters can mix and match their selections in the primary, but must vote for a two-person ticket in the general election.

Archila, a 42-year-old activist and co-founder of the Center for Popular Democracy, was one of about two dozen elected officials and activists who appeared at the Grand Street headquarters of progressive advocacy group For the Many on Wednesday, one day after Gov. Kathy Hochul’s announcement that she’d picked Delgado for her lieutenant governor and presumed running mate in November’s general election. The gathering was part of a campaign for a statewide Good Cause Eviction Law that, proponents say, will protect tenants across New York from arbitrary eviction and predatory rent hikes.

Among the elected officials present were Ninth Ward Alderwoman Michele Hirsch who supported a local Good Cause Eviction law in Kingston, and Ulster County Legislator Phil Erner (D-District 6) who is among lawmakers pushing for a countywide version of the tenant protection legislation.

In prepared remarks, Archila saved her harshest criticism for Hochul who, she said, had left constituents in a key swing district without voice in Washington at a time when Congressional Democrats should be rallying to codify abortion rights ahead of the Supreme Court’s expected overturning of Roe v. Wade.

(For our look at what is frankly the weirdest political situation we've had in the Hudson Valley in decades, click here.)

But when asked why Ulster County residents, who voted overwhelmingly for Delgado in 2018 and 2020, shouldn’t back him for the second highest elected office in the state, Archila had a ready answer.

“[The lieutenant governor’s] office should be a representative of the people inside the executive branch, someone who will always say we should not do the bidding of real estate interests, we should prioritize the interests of real people,” said Archila, who noted that Delgado was not among the 11 members of New York’s congressional delegation who signed a petition supporting Good Cause Eviction. “And to do that you have to actually get to the role of lieutenant governor on your own.”