Gov. Kathy Hochul has had a bad run when it comes to lieutenant governors.

Her first lieutenant governor, Brian Benjamin, resigned after he was indicted on bribery charges. His replacement, Antonio Delgado, has publicly broken with Hochul and could potentially challenge her next year.

Now, a newly passed state law will minimize the chances of such a split in the future.

“The lieutenant governor bill is simply something that makes sense,” Hochul told reporters Wednesday. “We’ve talked about it for a number of years, setting up a system that is more analogous to what you have for the president and the vice president.”

Currently, the state holds separate primaries for governor and lieutenant governor, which can result in awkward marriages.

Mary Anne Krupsak was elected lieutenant governor in 1974 on the same ticket as Hugh Carey, despite not having been his preferred candidate. In 1982, Mario Cuomo was forced into an unhappy pairing with lieutenant governor nominee Al DelBello, who resigned two years later.

More recently, in 2018, Andrew Cuomo nearly had to share a ticket with an antagonist, Jumaane Williams, after Williams came within seven points of upsetting Hochul in the lieutenant governor primary.

Now, candidates for governor will form a joint ticket with their lieutenant governor pick ahead of the primary.

Former lieutenant governor Betsy McCaughey took issue with the measure. “It’s really kind of a silly provision,” she said.

McCaughey was Republican George Pataki’s pick for lieutenant governor in 1994, but after a falling out, ran against him as a Democrat in 1998.

She says Hochul is seeking to “handcuff” the lieutenant governor.

“She wants to reduce the office of lieutenant governor to, like, a cabinet position, or assistant to the governor,” McCaughey said. “Right now, the lieutenant governor can claim to have something of an individual mandate.”

Hochul has not indicated who she might tap as her running mate heading into next year’s reelection cycle.