Kathy Hochul has succeeded Andrew Cuomo as New York’s governor after the latter’s resignation over allegations of sexual harassment, making Ms Hochul New York’s first female governor.
New York Chief Judge, Janet DiFiore, conducted the swearing-in ceremony Tuesday at the state’s capital, making Ms Hochul, 62, a former congresswoman, the 57th governor of New York.
Her coronation is coming three weeks after the state attorney general indicted outgoing governor, Mr Cuomo, of “sexually harassing multiple women.”
Mr Cuomo would announce his resignation a week later, ending his 10-year reign as governor within which he rose to national prominence for his handling of COVID-19 pandemic last year. He denied wrongdoing.
Ms Hochul, a Democrat, has promised to usher in a new era of civility and consensus in state government.
“I feel the weight of responsibility on my shoulders and I will tell New Yorkers I’m up for the task,”
the New York Times quoted Ms Hochul as having told WGRZ-TV, a local news station, shortly after she was 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.”
Ms Hochul would now have to decide what she would veer from Mr Cuomo’s COVID-19 response plans and whom to retain from the outgoing governor’s cabinet.
The incoming governor Hochul is a graduate of Syracuse University and Catholic University, where she obtained her law degree.