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Current Lieutenant Governor and incoming New York Governor Kathy Hochul during an appearance at the state Capitol in Albany.Hans Pennink / AP
Democrat Kathy Hochul, 62, will become New York's first female governor on Aug. 24.
The hitherto
number two
Andrew Cuomo will take office once the resignation announced last Tuesday by the politician becomes effective, who has resigned to resign after being cornered by a sex scandal.
Hochul is a low-key attorney with a reputation as an up close and personal all-rounder who has had a long history in state politics.
He will have to face the pandemic amid an outbreak and a legacy: Cuomo has been the governor for more than a decade, as has his father, who served three terms.
"Although it was not what was expected, I am prepared to fill the position," she said at a press conference on Wednesday.
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Hochul has the unusual habit of visiting the 62 counties of the state every year.
As Lieutenant Governor of Cuomo she has been seen constantly on the road;
cutting ribbons;
shaking hands.
Hence, the rest of America does not know it much, but it does in the various corners of New York.
They also know her in Washington.
After obtaining a law degree from the Catholic University of America, she worked as legal counsel to Congressman John J. LaFalce and later to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, both Democrats.
For nearly 18 years he devoted himself to local politics: 14 years as a Hamburg city councilor and about four as Erie County Clerk. He achieved national notoriety in 2011, when he seized a seat in the House of Representatives for a conservative district that 40 years ago was not in the hands of Democrats. Two years later he ran again and lost. After the brief stint in Congress, Hochul moved to her hometown, Buffalo, to work as a lawyer at M&T bank. He was at it when Cuomo approached him in 2014 to offer to be his running mate.
The Democrat came to Hochul because he was in his second term and wanted to make sure he had the support of the west of the state, a territory where he had done poorly in his first election. That's what he wanted her for. They ran together again in the 2018 elections, where they again achieved victory.
"No one will say that there is a toxic work environment in the Administration," said the future governor this Wednesday, referring to the description made by the employees and former employees who reported having suffered sexual harassment by Cuomo.
In the prosecution's report, which concluded last week that the accusations against the Democrat had solid foundations, they named a series of senior officials who allowed the alleged abuses.
"No one named in the report for doing something unethical will remain on my team," said Hochul.
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The last public event in which the lieutenant governor and Cuomo participated was in January, at a meeting about the coronavirus in Buffalo, her hometown.
At the peak of the health crisis, when the governor addressed citizens daily on television to offer guidance and comfort, Hochul accompanied him only in two of the 11 appearances.Cuomo thanked part of his team for their help in writing his book on the efficiency with which it managed the pandemic last year (later questioned for falsifying the death toll in nursing homes).
He did so during the book launch, but did not mention the lieutenant governor.
The distance between the two increased when the first complaints of sexual harassment were uncovered.
Ready to lead
”I agree with Governor Cuomo's decision to resign. It's the right thing to do and is in the best interest of New Yorkers. As someone who has served at all levels of government and is next in line, I am prepared to lead as the 57th Governor of New York State, ”Hochul wrote after learning of the resignation of her boss since 2015. "Kathy Hochul, my Lieutenant Governor, is smart and competent," Cuomo said in her announcement. “This transition must be perfect. We have a lot to do. I'm very concerned about the delta variant, but she can catch up quickly, ”he added.
Now she will be the one who ends Cuomo's term, which ends at the end of next year.
Her name already sounded like a possible candidate to govern the State, so taking on the challenge as incumbent puts her in a good starting position, at least in terms of visibility, to make her ambitions a reality.
This afternoon he reported that he is already training his Cabinet and planning the agenda that his Administration will set, but that he will announce it in 13 days, when he takes office, because it is important that there is only one governor at a time, "and for now, that it's Andrew Cuomo ”.
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