Who is Kathy Hochul, the new governor of New York

Never before has a woman become New York State’s top political figure. In fact, in the history of the United States, only 44 other women have become state governors. Twelve of them got the post for serving as vice-governors and staying in the line of succession after the governor left office for some reason. Kathy hochul He’s one of them and in just a few hours he’s already made history.

He is a Democrat and has 62 years old. For several decades she has been married to William J. Hochul Jr., lawyer and businessman, with whom they have two children. He was born in Buffalo, north of the state, and is the second of six siblings. Coming from a family of Irish origin, he professes the Catholic religion.

He got his start in politics during his college days, while studying in Syracuse. His first political action was to organize a student boycott of the bookstore because of the high prices. He then got his university to condemn apartheid in South Africa in 1979. In 1984, she graduated as a lawyer from Catholic University of Columbus.

Since 1994 he has served as member of the municipal committee of the city of Hamburg, just outside of Buffalo. In 2003, he started working for the Erie County office, which he eventually headed in 2007.

In 2011, he became a member of Federal Congress representing New York’s 26th District., after a close election. But when he returned to the polls in 2012, the district’s boundaries had changed and he lost his seat.

There he took a break from politics, in which he worked for the financial industry for return to politics in 2014 as Andrew Cuomo’s running mate. Around Cuomo, some doubted his image was strong enough to move the state forward without having Cuomo as governor.

However, two weeks ago when Cuomo announced he would step down after a prosecutor’s report approving the complaints of 11 women for alleged sexual assault by the governor, Hochul gave a press conference to affirm his position as a new strong personality in New York politics.

“My promise to all New Yorkers, here and now, is that I will fight furiously for all of you every day of my life. I’ve always done it, and always will, ”Hochul said at the first press conference after news broke that he would inherit the governorship.

At midnight last night, Cuomo officially resigned. At once, Hochul was sworn in as the 57th governor in New York history, during a private ceremony before the judges of the Head of State, Janet DiFiore.

So, in addition, Hochul became the first New York governor in over a hundred years not to reside in or around New York City.. She is the second governor in 14 years to take office after the resignation of her predecessor.

He comes to the governor not only in the midst of a political scandal over the allegations against Cuomo, but also in the face of a new peak of the pandemic with the Delta variant generating massive infections in one of the most affected states last year. New York’s economy has been one of the hardest hit in the country with the pandemic shutdowns, surely helping to recover is one of the goals of his tenure.

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