Gov. Kathy Hochul Officially Sworn In

By Yehudit Garmaise

    Today at 10am, Kathy Hochul was sworn in as the state’s 57th governor in the New York’s Capitol building in Albany, after a private swearing-in was held last night at midnight, minutes after the resignation of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo finally took effect.

     "You will soon find that brevity is the hallmark of my administration," said Gov. Hochul, this morning, right after Chief Judge Janet DiFiore swore her in.

     Gov. Hochul, a Buffalo native, is the first woman to serve as New York’s chief executive, after serving as lieutenant governor since 2015.

     The political career of Gov. Hochul, who is a lawyer, started in 1994, when she first served as a member of town board of Hamburg, and then served as the deputy county clerk and then the county clerk of Erie County. 

    In May 2011, Hochul won a four-candidate special election to serve as the first Democrat in 40 years to represent York’s 26th Congressional District.

     After leaving Congress in 2012, Hochul worked as a government relations specialist with Buffalo-based M&T Bank, until Cuomo selected her as his running mate in 2014.

     As Gov. Hochul and her husband William Hochul Jr., who is an attorney and now “first gentleman” were heading into the black car that would take her to her private swearing-in ceremony last night, a reporter asked her how she would remember this moment.

     “Very special,” Gov. Hochul said graciously. “Thank you very much for coming out.”

     Just more than a week ago, when The New York Times interviewed Gov. Hochul, the reporters, who were struck by her mild-mannered, conservative, and low-key personality, called her, “the anti-Cuomo” and looked forward to a new, more refined tone set by New York’s newest governor.

      Additionally, Hochul will sworn in: publicly and ceremonially, today at the state Capitol building at 10 am, before meeting with Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), whom she thanked as her "great friends, with whom she has been on a long journey.

     "I so look forward to continuing and deepening the relationships we have had."

     Gov. Hochul also thanked her pastor, Solomon Dees, for introducing her, for "reminding everyone of the presence of G-d, and for blessing her administration."

     Gov. Hochul then spoke about creating a "fresh, collaborative approach" in Albany.

     Her priorities, which she will be outlining at 3pm, she said, will be: "combating COVID, getting aid to New Yorkers, and changing the culture of Albany."

     On Aug. 11, the day after Cuomo resigned, Gov. Hochul spoke about the considerable anxiety among students, teachers, parents, business owners, and other workers, who still wonder whether it is safe to go back to work."

     “It is going to take all of us working together to keep everyone safe,” said Hochul, who has spent the last two weeks refining her vision for the state, meeting cabinet officials, and appointing her own staff. “But I know New Yorkers. They are hard-wired to persevere and to prevail.

     “The promise I make to all New Yorkers, right here and right now: I will fight for you every single day like I have always done and always will.”

Photo by: Collive