Persuasive!Chakotay could have played Voyager's wooden plank that Seska and Suder would have to eventually walk. Would have given Beltran greater artistic range and more gravitas than 1st officer role.
Most persuasive.
The more I see this topic discussed in this thread, it's becoming increasingly clear to me that STAR TREK had stumbled by not making it possible for Jonathan Frakes to join the cast.
Yes ... I'm remembering some things now, like when Riker met Janeway, briefly and she seemed instantly infatuated with him. Had Tom Riker's becoming a regular character on VOY eventuated, it might've been extremely likely that there would've been some initial tensions between he and Chakotay over Kathryn's affections. I'm confident, however, that Riker would've resisted the attentions of The Good Captain, in favour of keeping it on a professional level.
But out of that tug-and-pull/back-and-forth in the beginning, Chakotay and Tom would eventually become like brothers. Maybe if Tom was First Officer, Chakotay would've been better situated to realise his dreams of being together with Janeway. Indeed, there's a lot of good Human drama in this version of STAR TREK: Voyager. Oh, wow ... boy, did we miss out!