Here's what you need to know about Kathy Hochul, who will become New York's first female governor
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul speaking at an event in June. Photo: Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images New York governor Andrew Cuomo resigned on Tuesday, one week after the release of state Attorney General Letitia James’s independent report detailing credible allegations of sexual harassment by 11 different accusers. His resignation will be effective in 14 days, at which point Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will become the state’s first-ever female governor.
[S]he faces the task of succeeding an incumbent who has not just kept her out of his inner circle but one who has also controlled Albany for his own political ends and dominated state politics for the better part of a decade.
After leaving Congress, Hochul briefly worked in the private sector doing government relations for M&T Bank. In 2014, Cuomo named Hochul to replace then-Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy as his running mate for a second term. In 2018, she fended off a primary challenge from New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams and won reelection.
What has she done as lieutenant governor and during the pandemic? Since joining the Cuomo administration, Hochul has been its road warrior, including during the pandemic. Much of that has been fulfilling the traditional duties of any lieutenant governor: being a spokesperson and defender for the governor’s office and its priorities, as well as the state’s chief ribbon-cutter.
Kathy and I talked a lot during the last year about getting resources, what we need in county government, especially early on when it was difficult to get testing kits and the like. So she’s been pretty involved … in discussing what we need in county government and how she can help[.] She’s ready for any role that she may have in state government. I know she’s more than capable to handle any role in New York state government, including governor.
[I]t is clear that Gov. Kathy Hochul would be the temperamental opposite of the temperamental Cuomo, who has kept Hochul at a bit of a distance. Hochul’s personal warmth serves as her political fuel, an asset that’s allowed her to forge deep political ties across the state while pushing the governor’s message.Cuomo hasn’t always been equally supportive of Hochul.
How has Hochul responded to the allegations against Cuomo? On February 27, after a second former aide came forward to accuse Governor Cuomo of sexual harassment, the lieutenant governor said in a brief statement that “everyone deserves to have their voice heard and taken seriously” and that she supported “an independent review” of the claims.
Meanwhile, Politico reports that Hochul appears to have stopped using Cuomo’s name in recent public appearances:
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