Andrew Cuomo’s abrasive tenure as New York governor came to an end Tuesday, when fellow Democrat, lieutenant governor Kathy Hochul was sworn in as the state’s 57th governor at the stroke of midnight. The elevation of the 62-year-old Buffalo native comes two weeks after Cuomo announced he would resign rather than face an impeachment trial over a slew of sexual harassment allegations that left him with a dwindling number of allies. Hochul succeeds the three-term Democrat to become the first female governor of New York in the state’s history, capping a remarkable 14-year rise that started in local government as a county clerk. Hochul is also the first New York governor from outside the greater New York City area in nearly a century, dating back to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.
“I feel the weight of responsibility on my shoulders and I will tell New Yorkers I’m up for the task,” Hochul told local Buffalo station WGRZ-TV shortly after being sworn in. “I thought about all the women that came before me, including my mother who was not there, but a lot of women through history, and I felt they passed the torch to me.” Hochul briefly served in Congress, winning a special election in 2011 for a typically conservative House seat in Buffalo after a sex scandal engulfed the Republican incumbent. Hochul didn’t hold the seat for long however and the following year was beaten in the redrawn district by Republican former Rep. Chris Collins, who made waves by becoming the first sitting Congressperson to endorse Donald Trump for president, and who later went to prison.
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