Kathy Hochul was sworn in as New York’s 57th governor, and the first woman to hold the office, at midnight Tuesday.
While the midnight ceremony was the official swearing-in, Hochul held a ceremonial one at 10 a.m. in the State Capitol's Red Room as her husband, father, children and siblings looked on.
She is now the first governor from Western New York in over 100 years.
“This is an emotional moment for me, but it’s one that I’m prepared for,” Hochul said.
Hochul, dressed in white — the color worn by the suffragettes — takes over after 10 years of Andrew Cuomo in office.
Cuomo resigned rather than face an almost certain impeachment and conviction in the State Legislature. The state’s attorney general, Letitia James, found that Cuomo sexually harassed and, in one case, sexually assaulted, 11 women and presided over an office rife with intimidation and bullying. He’s also under federal investigation for potentially covering up nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been accused of improperly using staff to help him write and edit a $5 million memoir.
Hochul, in a brief question and answer session with reporters late morning, said she hopes to change the culture at the Capitol and institute a “fresh, collaborative approach.”
“I want people to believe in their government again,” Hochul said. “Our strength comes from the faith and the confidence of the people who put us in these offices and I take that very seriously.”
In a brief address introducing herself to New Yorkers, Hochul said her top priority is to take proactive steps to get the rising infection rate of the COVID-19 Delta variant under control.
When schools open in a couple of weeks, anyone entering a school will be required to wear a mask — a directive she is mandating the Department of Health to issue — and there will be strict vaccination mandates.
“We need to require vaccinations for all school personnel, with an option to test out weekly, at least for now,” Hochul said.
Earlier this month, Cuomo’s health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, failed to provide guidance to schools on health and safety policy, but Hochul said that later this week she will release a number of school-related policies.
The mask and vaccination mandates roll into another priority for Hochul — increasing the state’s vaccination rate. Hochul said New Yorkers can expect more vaccination requirements now that the Food and Drug Administration has fully approved the Pfizer vaccine and is expected to fully approve the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
“More on that soon,” she hinted.
She noted that the state will likely be restarting its mass vaccination sites around New York to more quickly provide needed booster shots this fall, a third priority for the new governor.
New York’s eviction moratorium, enacted earlier in the pandemic, ends Aug. 31. Though the state received over $2.7 billion in federal aid for tenants and small landlords, only around $109 million has been given out so far. Hochul said she will be assembling a team to expedite distribution of the funds.
“I am not at all satisfied with the pace that this COVID relief is getting out the door,” Hochul said. “I want the money out now. I want it out with no more excuses and delays. If you apply and qualify for this money, you will be protected from eviction for a solid year.”
The governor also noted that she will fix delays for handing out other aid, including the excluded workers fund, which is aid for workers that are not eligible for enhanced unemployment benefits.
The governor said she will also act to make state government a safe and ethical workplace, and will require in-person sexual harassment training and instruction in ethical practices for every single state employee.
In the early afternoon, Hochul met with the Legislature’s Democratic majority leaders, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
Stewart-Cousins also broke a glass ceiling when she became the first woman and first African American woman to lead the Senate. She said for the first time, Albany’s legendary "three men in a room" decision-making process — consisting of the governor and the two legislative leaders — will be made up of two women and an African American man.
“(It’s) hopefully inspiring to so many people who had never been aspiring, frankly, to be in the ‘room where it happens,’” Stewart-Cousins said.
Heastie said the diversity of New York’s new leadership sends a message.
“I’m a father of a young 12-year-old daughter,” Heastie said. “I want her to believe that she can do anything in the world, and she won’t be restricted by the fact that she was born a girl.”
Heastie said he’s always had a great relationship with Hochul and looks forward to working with her on priorities like the ongoing pandemic and helping tenants get the assistance they need to remain in their homes.
Neither leader committed to any specific actions or changes, saying the talks with the new governor are just beginning.
Hochul was Cuomo’s chief cheerleader during her six years as lieutenant governor, traveling across New York state to promote his policies, often at several events in one day. Despite that, Hochul was never part of Cuomo’s inner circle. She was left out of his daily televised COVID-19 briefings during the height of the pandemic.
Hochul has said she was unaware of the sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo until the women went public with their accusations. She condemned Cuomo after the AG's report.
Hochul announced two key appointments to her administration — Karen Persichilli Keogh, who worked for former U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and current U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, will be chief of staff. Elizabeth Fine will be chief counsel. Fine will move from her position as counsel to Empire State Development.
Hochul has said there will be “turnover” among Cuomo’s former staff, and anyone implicated in bad behavior in the AG’s report will be out of a job. She’s asking for a 45-day transition period to continue interviewing potential new staff and making final decisions.
Meanwhile, Cuomo, during his final hours in office, made several public appearances, presiding over storm briefings to alert New Yorkers about the potential dangers from tropical storm Henri, and giving a farewell address 12 hours before his planned midnight exit. He used his last speech as governor, in part, to continue to deny the accusations against him, saying the attorney general's report was political instead of factual.
“The attorney general's report was designed to be a political firecracker on an explosive topic. And it worked. There was a political and media stampede,” Cuomo said. “But the truth will out in time. Of that, I am confident.”
The attorney general stands by her report, saying the women’s claims were corroborated by a “mountain of evidence."
Cuomo also offered “advice” to his successor on pandemic policy going forward and recounted what he believes were his major accomplishments in office, including renovating major airports and revitalizing Buffalo.
