Gov. Kathy Hochul completely shut out her No. 2 – Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado – long before he launched a Democratic primary run against her this week.

Delgado revealed he stopped speaking to Hochul months ago as public disagreements and private pettiness – including the governor stripping him of his state Capitol office and official email – escalated between the pair.

“It’s been a long time,” Delgado said Wednesday at a campaign launch event in Brooklyn. “Definitely months.”

A governor’s office source confirmed the cone of silence has existed for months. It even shockingly extended to this week as Delgado technically served as acting governor while Hochul was out-of-state.

The rupture began soon after Hochul picked Delgado in 2022 to replace her first lieutenant governor, Harlem state Sen. Brian Benjamin (D-Manhattan), who resigned while facing charges he accepted bribes from a real estate developer — in a federal case that was eventually dropped.

Delgado told the New York Times this week the break became apparent when Hochul shut him out of her controversial decision to nominate Justice Hector D. LaSalle to lead New York’s highest court, a choice that rankled lefty Democrats. 

LaSalle was ultimately voted down, delivering an embarrassing blow to the new governor at the time.

The disagreements, however, remained behind-the-scenes until Delgado very publicly called for President Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, undercutting Hochul’s position as an outspoken supporter of the dithering president.

Delgado also found himself at cross purposes to Hochul early this year when he called for Eric Adams to resign amid the mayor’s swirling corruption scandals. 

By that time, Hochul and Delgado weren’t speaking. 

Delgado didn’t give Hochul a heads up when he publicly announced in February that he wouldn’t run with her as lieutenant governor in 2026, a source said.

Hochul and her staff, meanwhile, ruthlessly worked to cut off Delgado from even the smallest perks.

The governor took away Delgado’s second-floor office in the state Capitol, all of his office equipment, his cell phone and even his state email account, sources said.

Delgado also no longer has a state vehicle, although his New York State Police detail remains, according to sources.

The estrangement extended to this week, when Hochul visited Massachusetts for what a spokesperson called “political meetings.”

Such an out-of-state trip should trigger a provision of the state constitution that makes the lieutenant governor acting executive while the governor is out of state, but Hochul’s office seemed to ignore the provision and left Delgado with no power.

“The plain language says that there’s a succession automatically when she’s out of state,” Cam MacDonald, general counsel at the Empire Center for Public Policy, told The Post.

MacDonald admitted Hochul may have a case due to a revision to the provision in 1963 that stipulates the LG could take over not only when a governor is impeached or is out of state, but also when he or she is “otherwise unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office of governor.”

“The language made it a little bit more gray,” MacDonald said.

What’s not so gray is that Hochul’s interpretation of the law has changed now that her split with Delgado is public.

Back in 2023, while Hochul was out-of-state, she instructed Delgado to call a special election for the 27th Assembly District.

“As Governor Hochul is currently out of New York State, Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado issued the proclamation pursuant to the New York State Constitution,” a press release from the governor’s office read at the time.

The proclamation declaring the special election was signed by Delgado.

A spokesperson for Delgado didn’t return a request for comment. 

Delgado is scheduled to hold a homecoming campaign rally Saturday in Schenectady.

Meanwhile, it was revealed Friday that State Committee Chair Jay Jacobs was rallying local party leaders to voice their early support for Hochul in next year’s gubenatorial race.