Cuomo No Mo’ – Meet Governor Kathy Hochul

This week New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation from his position as Governor. The announcement came days after a scathing 168-page report detailing Cuomo’s predatory sexual behavior was published by the New York State Attorney General’s Office.

This is just the latest of a number of Cuomo-controversies, his COVID-19 policy resulted in the death of more than 15,000 senior citizens – during which time he released a book about “defeating COVID.”

Following the sexual misconduct allegations, President Biden asked Cuomo to step down and so – in two weeks New York will have a new Governor.

Who is the new Governor?

In less than 12 days Kathy Hochul who has been serving as lieutenant governor of New York since 2015 will be sworn in as the state’s new leader. After years of harassing women from a position of power, Cuomo will step down – thus paving the way for the first woman Governor in New York State history. 

Who is Kathy Hochul?

Hochul is a career politician and public servant, born outside of Buffalo and raised as one of six in an Irish Catholic household. Importantly – her last name is pronounced “HOH-kuhl” not “HOCH-ul.”

Coincidentally, this is not the first time she’s stepped up when a male politician was embarrassed for sexual misconduct. In 2011 republican congressman Christopher Lee resigned after a shirtless photo of himself began to circulate the internet. Following that scandal, Ms. Hochul won a special election in one of New York’s more conservative districts.

Hochul was selected by Cuomo to be his lieutenant governor in an attempt to appeal to Western New York while he was campaigning for Governor. The New York Times described their relationship as “transactional.” Throughout her career Hochul has been recognized as a centrist Democrat with bi-partisan appeal. Over the next few weeks she will establish both her platform and cabinet for the remained of the gubernatorial tenure which ends January 1, 2023. 

An article from the BBC highlights that in 2008 Hochul opposed plan “to give driving licenses to undocumented immigrants,” which she has since expressed regret for. During her time in office, she focused on protections for victims of domestic abuse. It’s unclear what Hochul’s term will hold, it would be safe to assume that her administration is not going to change very much.