The last person to ascend to the governor’s mansion after serving as lieutenant governor, David Paterson, offered insight into the challenges faced by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Rep. Antonio Delgado, Hochul’s pick to be her new lieutenant governor.

“When I was lieutenant governor, I’d wake up at 6:30 in the morning and call the governor, the governor answered the phone, and my job was done for the day,” Paterson said. “When you’re lieutenant governor, you have to take cool lessons. No matter what happens, you just have to be cool.”

“From time to time, something will happen and all of a sudden you’re the governor,” Paterson joked.

When Paterson became governor after former Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in 2008, he ended up fighting in court for his right to appoint Richard Ravitch to the lieutenant governor’s office. Winning that case, Paterson’s administration established the precedent used by Hochul to first appoint Brian Benjamin and then Delgado to the office.

Joining Errol Louis on “Inside City Hall” Tuesday, the former governor praised the selection of Delgado and highlighted the congressman’s prospective role as the highest ranking Latino in New York state history.

“This is the first that somebody with this type of background would go higher than borough president in New York City,” Paterson said, calling Delgado a “dynamic candidate” and adding Hochul “really checked off a lot of places by doing this.”

Paterson noted Delgado is from the Hudson Valley, not New York City, potentially putting Hochul’s ticket at a disadvantage in a Democratic primary.

“One of the problems Congressman Delgado will have is that he’s not from New York City. The governor has got to get votes out of New York City to win the primary,” Paterson said. “He’ll help her as much as he can, but he’s not a name known in New York City.”

As two candidates from upstate, Paterson said Hochul and Delgado should focus on transit issues and crime to entice city voters to their cause.

Paterson also discussed the Democratic redistricting map overturned by a court challenge and Hochul’s vetting of Benjamin, saying she should have moved to remove him before the federal indictment.

“He didn’t help the process when he said he was sure after the investigation they would find no fault on his part or the governor’s. Or the governor? No one ever said the governor did anything. So he threw the governor under the bus,” Paterson said. “If I was there, that probably would have been his last day.”