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Kathy Hochul Set To Address ����������ers As Incoming Governor. What To Expect
  Gannett  August 11, 2021

ALBANY – Incoming Gov. Kathy Hochul will make her first public comments Wednesday afternoon after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday he would resign amid a series of sexual harassment complaints against him.

Hochul will officially take office Aug. 24 after Cuomo said  in 14 days.

Hochul’s ascension : She will be ����������’s first woman governor.

She lives in Buffalo and will also be the first governor from outside the ���������� City area since Nathan Miller of Cortland County was elected in 1920.

“I agree with Governor Cuomo’s decision to step down. It is the right thing to do and in the best interest of ����������ers,” she said in a statement Tuesday.

“As someone who has served at all levels of government and is next in the line of succession, I am prepared to lead as ���������� State’s 57th Governor.”

Hochul will take over at a tumultuous time, trying to rebuild relationships with the Legislature that were in tatters with Cuomo and guide the state through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Cuomo offered his support for his successor as he faces various investigations even when he leaves.

“Kathy Hochul, my lieutenant governor, is smart and competent,” he said in his resignation speech.

“This transition must be seamless. We have a lot going on. I’m very worried about the Delta variant, and so should you be. But she can come up to speed quickly. And my resignation will be effective in 14 days.”

Hochul is the former Erie County clerk who went on to serve a brief stint in Congress in western ����������, winning a special election in 2011 but losing a year later when the districts was redrawn to make it more Republican heavy.

She positioned herself as a moderate Democrat in Congress, picking up the endorsement of the National Rifle Association and previously leading the charge in 2007 against then Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s effort to allow driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants.

She has since supported the license measure, but she will face questions about her policy positions, particularly as the Democratic-led Legislature has increasingly moved to the left.

And her husband, William, a former federal prosecutor, is an executive with Delaware North, the Buffalo-based hospitality company  with the state.

Hochul’s time in office will quickly move to politics: If she wants a full term, she would need to run next year — first likely in a Democratic primary in June and then if she wins next November for a full four-year term.

But she’ll enter office with what appears to be the full support of political leaders, who offered her praise and noted they look forward to a fresh start from the scandal-plagued Cuomo.

“Working with Governor Kathy Hochul, the first woman governor of ���������� State, we will continue to address the COVID-19 pandemic, rebuild our economy and face our challenges standing together,” Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, said in a statement.

“Governor Hochul is a dedicated leader, and united, we will get the people’s work done.”