New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday that she plans to go through a “process” to find a replacement for Brian Benjamin, who resigned Monday as her lieutenant governor after being arrested on bribery charges related to prior elections before she appointed him to the position.

During an appearance on WNYC Radio’s The Brian Lehrer Show, she said she wanted New Yorkers to have confidence that she’ll find “a real partner” to help move the state forward. The interview was scheduled before Tuesday’s events.

“So, we need a little bit of time, but we’re going to continue to get it right,” she said. “Because I pledged that I was going to change the culture in Albany, and I’m not going to let any setbacks detract from that ultimate goal, which is to let people know we’re going to continue changing that culture, and it’s going to happen under my watch.”

Lehrer pressed Hochul on how she could pick the then-state senator from Harlem last August, especially since there had been some questions about his campaign finance practices.

The governor, a Democrat, said that she was not aware of the investigations into Benjamin and that he did not disclose them in the background check paperwork he completed before the appointment. With the information she said was available to her, Hochul said she made the best decision.

“Clearly, we need to have a different process, a more strengthened, streamlined process that can get us more detail than we had at the time,” the governor said. “I obviously was not aware that there had been investigations from federal authorities or even the district attorney’s office at that time. Clearly, there would have been a different outcome had we been aware of that.”

The timing of Benjamin’s arrest and resignation could not have come at a worse time for Hochul. While she celebrated passing a $220 billion budget, some Democrats criticized her for pushing forward changes to the criminal justice reforms instituted three years ago that did away with cash bail for individuals facing most misdemeanor and nonviolent felony charges. She was also panned for pledging to invest $600 million in state funds toward a $1.4 billion stadium project for the Buffalo Bills.

But beyond that, this is an election year, and the Democratic primary is now less than 11 weeks away. Hochul has been the strong favorite in polling. Still, in recent months, she’s seen more people who were previously undecided begin to view her negatively.

In last month’s Siena Research Institute poll on the primary, Hochul had 52% support from Democratic voters, compared to 12% for New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and 11% for U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi of Long Island.

Voters overall viewed Hochul positively, with 45% casting a favorable opinion and 35% unfavorable. However, last September, the split was 42/17 favorable.

In a statement early Tuesday evening, Williams said that Hochul denied knowing about former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s alleged improprieties and continued “the same posture and strategy” in reacting to the Benjamin news. Cuomo resigned in disgrace facing accusations of harassing 11 women; Hochul was lieutenant governor and moved into the governor’s chair as a result of his exit.

“Either she’s consistently shamefully out of the loop or shamefully enabling through her inaction, and either way, it’s clear that unless we elect leadership outside of the old ways of Albany, these patterns of scandal and corruption will keep repeating,” Williams said.

Meanwhile, Suozzi also set his sights on his opponent.

Before Benjamin’s resignation, Suozzi slammed Hochul for her “first decision,” a person whom she trusted to push the bail reforms and help negotiate the budget. Like Williams, the congressman vowed to clean up the mess in Albany if he won the governor’s race.

“Hochul has fostered a culture of continued corruption with months of fundraising from pay-to-play insiders and people doing business with the state, and secretive budget deals that resulted in the billion-dollar Bills stadium and little else,” he tweeted.

This article was originally posted on Hochul pledges to find ‘real partner’ for New York in wake of Benjamin’s resignation