Kathy Hochul, currently the second highest-ranking official in New York, will make history in two weeks when she becomes the state’s first female governor. Hochul will take the reins from Andrew Cuomo, who announced his resignation on Tuesday morning following a spate of sexual harassment allegations corroborated by a damning report from the NY Attorney General’s office.
While Hochul has been Cuomo’s lieutenant governor since 2015, she has largely stayed out of the national limelight – something her boss relished. Instead, she’s focused on the type of on-the-ground politics that has engendered goodwill across the vast state she is now set to lead.
Hochul has made a point of visiting each of New York’s 62 counties every year. The New York Times reports:
In a typically frenetic week in September 2019, Ms. Hochul had two appearances in Brooklyn, one in Manhattan, four in Niagara Falls, one in Lockport, another in Pendleton, three in Buffalo, four in Rochester, two in Binghamton and one in Cortland.
Politico adds:
[Hochul] seems to be a presence at every ribbon-cutting, baby-kissing, axe-throwing event the state has to offer. “I would say she’s been busier than any lieutenant governor in recent memory by far,” said Robert Bellafiore, an Albany-based communications consultant and a former press secretary for Gov. George Pataki.
“She has already established the type of reputation where people know that they can reach out to her,” said Rep. Grace Meng, a Democrat who represents parts of Queens.
The 62-year-old Hochul is a veteran of local politics, having spent 14 years as a Hamburg town council member and then four years as Erie County clerk. She also worked as an aide and legal counsel to US Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and US Rep. John Joseph LaFalce, two Dems who represented NY in Congress.
“More than anything else, she was tenacious,” LaFalce, told The New York Times “She just turned the stone as many ways as you could to see what was underneath it and she didn’t let it go. By the same token, she was probably the most popular person in the office.”
Hochul received national attention in 2011 when she flipped NY’s 26th Congressional District blue in a closely watched special election. Republicans had held that seat for more than four decades. At the time of her victory, The Times credited Hochul’s authenticity, writing, “Hochul maintained a positive image conveying a homespun quality, speaking with a Buffalo accent, connecting naturally with voters.”
Hochul’s Western New York roots help explain a moderate brand of politics that might surprise downstate liberals. As Erie County Clerk she opposed issuing driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants if they couldn’t produce a Social Security card. She has since reversed that stance. She was endorsed by the National Rifle Association in the 2011 special election.
Hochul has been a champion of women’s rights and has fought sexual harassment. The Democrat & Chronicle explains:
As lieutenant governor under Cuomo in 2015, Hochul toured the state touting the “Enough is Enough” sexual assault prevention program on college campuses, which required schools to adopt a set of comprehensive procedures and guidelines, provided amnesty to students if they reported sexual assault on campus and expanded student access to law enforcement.
Last week, when the NY Attorney General released its report on Cuomo’s sexual harassment, Hochul said her boss’s behavior was “repulsive & unlawful.”
“Sexual harassment is unacceptable in any workplace, and certainly not in public service. No one is above the law,” she added.
Following Cuomo’s Tuesday resignation, Hochul released a statement saying, “I agree with Governor Cuomo’s decision to step down. It is the right thing to do and in the best interest of New Yorkers. As someone who has served at all levels of government and is next in the line of succession, I am prepared to lead as New York State’s 57th Governor.”
