Kathy Hochul

Hochul ran in the May 24, 2011, special election to fill the seat in New York's 26th congressional district left vacant by the resignation of Chris Lee. She was the Democratic Party and Working Families Party nominee. Hochul's residence in Hamburg, just outside the 26th district, became an issue during her campaign, though it did not disqualify her from seeking the seat. One month after her victory, she moved into the district.

The Republican and Conservative Party nominee, State Assemblymember Jane Corwin, was at first strongly favored to win in the Republican-leaning district, which had sent a Republican to Congress for the previous four decades. A late April poll had Corwin leading Hochul by 36% to 31%; Tea Party candidate Jack Davis trailed at 23%. An early May poll gave Hochul a lead of 35% to 31%, and shortly thereafter the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report called the race a toss-up. Additional polling in the days immediately before the election had Hochul leading by four- and six-point margins.

A Washington Post article noted that in the face of a possible Hochul victory, there was already a "full blown spin war" about the meaning of the result. The article said that Democrats viewed the close race as a result of Republicans' budget proposal The Path to Prosperity, and, in particular, their proposal for Medicare reform. Republicans viewed it as the result of Davis's third-party candidacy.

The campaign featured a number of negative television ads, with FactCheck accusing both sides of "taking liberties with the facts". In particular, FactCheck criticized the Democrats' ads for claiming that Corwin would "essentially end Medicare", even though the plan left Medicare intact for current beneficiaries. The organization also faulted the Republicans for ads portraying Hochul as a puppet of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and for claiming that Hochul planned to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Hochul was endorsed by EMILY's List, a political action committee that supports Democratic women candidates who support abortion rights. She was the fifth largest recipient of EMILY's List funds in 2011, receiving more than $27,000 in bundled donations. The Democrat and Chronicle endorsed Hochul "for her tenacity and independence", while The Buffalo News endorsed her for her positions on preserving Medicare and her record of streamlining government.

Hochul defeated Corwin 47% to 42%, with Davis receiving 9% and Green Party candidate Ian Murphy 1%.

Before the 2012 election, Hochul's district was renumbered the 27th during the redistricting process. The district was redrawn in a manner that caused it to be more heavily Republican. Hochul was endorsed by the NRA Political Victory Fund. She lost to Republican Chris Collins, 51% to 49%.

In Hochul's first few weeks in office, she co-sponsored bills with Brian Higgins to streamline the passport acquisition process. She also met with then-President Barack Obama about the economy and job creation and introduced a motion to restore the Republican cuts to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. She looked for ways to reduce the federal budget deficit and expressed support for reducing Medicaid spending as long as the reductions would not be achieved in the form of block grants offered to states, as proposed in the Republican budget blueprint. She also spoke with Obama about ending tax breaks for oil companies and protecting small businesses.

While campaigning for Congress, Hochul called herself an "independent Democrat". In an interview with the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, she cited as examples of her independence her opposition to then-Governor Eliot Spitzer's driver's license program for undocumented immigrants and her opposition to then-Governor David Paterson's 2010 proposal to raise revenue by requiring all vehicle owners to buy new license plates.

Hochul was one of 17 Democrats to join Republicans in supporting a resolution finding United States Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress relating to the ATF gunwalking scandal, a vote on which the NRA, which supported the resolution, announced it would be scoring lawmakers. Later in 2012, Hochul "trumpeted" her endorsement by the NRA and noted that she was just one of two New York Democrats to receive its support.

• Committee on Armed Services
• Committee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence
  • Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications

After her departure from Congress, Hochul worked as a government relations executive for the Buffalo-based M&T Bank.

In 2014, Robert Duffy announced that he would not run for reelection as lieutenant governor. Incumbent Governor Cuomo was running for a second term. After Duffy's announcement, Cuomo named Hochul as his choice for lieutenant governor. On May 22, 2014, the delegates to the state Democratic convention formally endorsed Hochul for lieutenant governor.

In September, Cuomo and Hochul won their Democratic primary elections, with Hochul defeating Timothy Wu. They were also the Working Families Party nominees. (In New York, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor are nominated separately, but run as a ticket in the general election.) In November, the Cuomo/Hochul ticket won the general election. Hochul was sworn in as lieutenant governor on January 1, 2015.

In the 2018 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor of New York, Hochul defeated Jumaane Williams, a member of the New York City Council, 53.3%–46.7%. In the November 6 general election, the Cuomo-Hochul ticket defeated the Republican ticket of Marc Molinaro and Julie Killian, 59.6%–36.2%.

Cuomo tasked Hochul with chairing the 10 regional economic development councils that are the centerpiece of the administration's economic development plan. The councils' goal is to build upon the strengths of each region to develop individualized long-term strategic plans.

Cuomo appointed Hochul to chair the Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Abuse and Addiction. In this capacity, she convened eight outreach sessions across New York State to hear from experts and community members in search of answers to the heroin crisis and works to develop a comprehensive strategy for New York.

Hochul spearheaded Cuomo's "Enough is Enough" campaign to combat sexual assault on college campuses beginning in 2015, hosting and attending more than 25 events. In March 2016, Cuomo named her to the New York State Women's Suffrage 100th Anniversary Commemoration Commission.

In 2018, Hochul supported legislation to provide driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, which she had opposed as Erie County Clerk in 2007. While Hochul had said in 2007 that she would seek to have any such applicants arrested if the proposal was implemented, in 2018 she said circumstances had changed.

On May 30, 2018, State Senate Democrats hoped to force a vote on an abortion rights bill known as the Reproductive Health Act. Hochul was prepared to cast a tie-breaking vote on a hostile amendment; with one Republican senator away from Albany on military duty, the Senate Republican Conference and the Senate Democratic conference each had 31 members in the chamber. But Senate Republicans "abruptly shut down business and pulled all the bills for the day" when Hochul entered the Senate chamber. She called the GOP's actions "reprehensible" and "cowardly", adding, "The governor and I are offended by the actions taken here today in the Senate."

Hochul presided over the Senate chamber on June 5, 2018, when Senate Republicans called for the override of Cuomo's veto of a bill relating to full-day kindergarten classes. The override passed by a large margin, and was the first veto override to occur during Cuomo's gubernatorial tenure.

At a July 2018 rally with Planned Parenthood, Hochul called upon the Republican-led State Senate to reconvene in Albany to pass the Reproductive Health Act. She asserted that the potential confirmation of then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh made this necessary. The Act was reintroduced in January 2019 and passed the same month with wide margins in the state House and Senate.

In a press briefing on August 10, 2021, Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation as governor, effective August 24. Cuomo was accused of multiple instances of sexual misconduct. Hochul said that New York attorney general Letitia James's report on Cuomo documented "repulsive and unlawful behavior" and praised his decision to resign. Of her time as lieutenant governor and relationship with Cuomo, Hochul has said: "I think it's very clear that the governor and I have not been close."

Hochul was sworn in as governor at 12:00 AM Eastern Time (ET) on August 24 by New York Chief Judge Janet DiFiore in a private ceremony. A public ceremonial event was held later that morning at the State Capitol's Red Room. Hochul is the state's first female governor. She is also the first New York governor from outside New York City and its immediate suburbs since 1932 (when Franklin Delano Roosevelt left office). Hochul also became the first governor from north of Hyde Park since Nathan L. Miller in 1922, in addition to being the first governor from Western New York since Horace White in 1910 and the first governor from Buffalo since Grover Cleveland in 1885. On August 12, Hochul confirmed that she planned to run for a full term as governor in 2022. She was the first Democrat to announce a 2022 gubernatorial candidacy after Cuomo said he would resign.

In August 2021, The Daily Beast and The Buffalo News reported on a potential conflict of interest between Hochul's role as governor and the high-level executive position held by her husband, William Hochul, at Delaware North, a Buffalo-based casino and hospitality company. Delaware North has stated that William Hochul will be prohibited from working on any matter that involves state business, oversight, or regulation. A spokesman for Kathy Hochul has said that she had a recusal policy as lieutenant governor and would maintain that policy as governor.

On August 26, 2021, Hochul appointed State Senator Brian Benjamin to the position of lieutenant governor of New York. Benjamin was sworn in on September 9, 2021.

In November 2021, Hochul pushed to end remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic and to return workers to offices. That same month, Hochul offered her plans to redevelop Manhattan's Pennsylvania Station and the surrounding neighborhood. In her plans, she called for reducing density in the area.

In December 2021, Hochul announced the reinstatement of an indoor mask mandate amid the spread of the Omicron variant.

In January 2022, she expanded an existing vaccine mandate for healthcare workers to include a booster shot requirement. Also in January 2022, Hochul confirmed that New York's eviction moratorium would expire on January 15. She announced that she would sign on to a letter with other governors to the federal government asking for more rent assistance, after New York received only $27.2 million of its nearly $1 billion request. Tenant advocates and other politicians have pushed her and state lawmakers to pass the Good Cause eviction bill, which would give tenants the right to a lease renewal in most cases, cap rent increases, and require landlords to obtain a judge's order to evict tenants.

In March 2022, Hochul reached an agreement with the Buffalo Bills to have taxpayers pay $850 million for the construction of a new stadium, as well as commit to maintain and repair the stadium. It was set to be the largest taxpayer contribution ever for a National Football League facility. The agreement was released four days before the state budget was due to be passed, making it hard for lawmakers to scrutinize it. Critics of the agreement characterized it as corporate welfare. Part of the funding for the stadium came from a payment from the Seneca Nation of New York, whose bank accounts had been recently frozen as part of a long-running dispute between the Seneca Nation and the State of New York over the Seneca Nation's refusal to pay certain fees related to casino gaming despite being ordered to do so by multiple judicial bodies.

On April 12, 2022, Brian Benjamin resigned as lieutenant governor after having been indicted earlier that day on federal charges of bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and falsification of records. The crimes of which Benjamin is accused were allegedly committed during his State Senate tenure. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

On May 3, 2022, Hochul selected U.S. Representative Antonio Delgado to serve as lieutenant governor of New York. Delgado was sworn in on May 25.

On June 22, 2022, Hochul announced a $300 million plan to rebuild infrastructure in western New York communities with public and private funding.

In 2022, a citizens' group called Uniting NYS and a group of state legislators sued Hochul in the New York State Supreme Court in George M. Borrello et al. v. Kathleen C. Hochul et al. to prevent implementation of a recently created state department of health policy enabling health practitioners to refer even asymptomatic patients suspected of having been exposed to a contagious illness for possible involuntary detention backed by law enforcement, with the option of holding detainees incommunicado. The policy had been created without consulting the state legislature and did not require an emergency to be implemented. New York Supreme Court Justice Ronald Ploetz ruled against Hochul on the grounds of unconstitutionality under the separation of powers doctrine of both the state and federal constitutions, as well as on the grounds that the policy was cruel and lacked due process. The New York state attorney general and Hochul are filing an appeal to retain the regulations, and the appeal is being challenged.

In late 2022, Hochul delayed the signing of the Digital Fair Repair Act, a bill that received rare bipartisan support. The delay was allegedly due to major equipment manufacturers' lobbying efforts. On December 28, 2022, Hochul signed the Digital Fair Repair Act (Senate bill 4104-A) into law, but not before adding an amendment that equipment manufacturers "may provide assemblies of parts rather than individual components". Independent repair analysts such as Louis Rossmann have claimed these amendments undermine the bill's purpose, and allege codification into law of "unethical practices".

On February 17, 2022, the New York State Democratic Convention endorsed Hochul for governor. As of that month, she had raised $21 million in campaign funds. Hochul won a full term in office, defeating Republican nominee Lee Zeldin in the closest New York gubernatorial election since 1994 and the closest Democratic victory since 1982. Hochul's election marked the first time a woman was elected governor of New York.

Hochul was inaugurated to her first full term as governor on January 1, 2023. One of her first actions was to nominate Hector LaSalle for the vacant position of chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals. LaSalle's nomination drew opposition from a wide variety of Democratic groups and constituencies, including numerous unions and trade groups, criminal justice advocates, elected officeholders, and local party affiliates, who raised concerns about his track record on issues relating to abortion, criminal justice, corporate interests, and the environment. Many also suggested that he would do little to stem, or could even accelerate, the Court of Appeals's rightward drift under the previous chief judge, Janet DiFiore. Despite an extensive lobbying campaign by Hochul's allies, including support from U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected LaSalle's nomination by a 10–9 vote. Hochul subsequently sued to demand a full floor vote. Democratic leadership then held a full Senate floor vote, which overwhelmingly rejected LaSalle's nomination. Hochul proceeded to nominate associate judge Rowan D. Wilson as chief judge and Caitlin Halligan as the replacement associate judge for Wilson. The New York Senate confirmed the nominations on April 19, 2023.

Hochul has employed consulting firms Deloitte and Boston Consulting Group in preparing her State of the State address, an arrangement the New York Times in April 2023 called "unusual, and possibly novel".

In December 2023, Hochul vetoed legislation to ban non-compete agreements. Business interests lobbied her to veto it while labor supported it, arguing that non-compete agreements harm workers' interests.

In February 2024, during the Israeli invasion of Gaza, Hochul was keynote speaker at a United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York event. During her speech, she made remarks implying that Israel had a right to destroy Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel: "If Canada someday ever attacked Buffalo, I'm sorry, my friends, there would be no Canada the next day." Following angry responses from a wide range of parties—including public officials and the Buffalo chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace—Hochul apologized for her "inappropriate analogy".

In March 2024, Hochul instituted a policy in coordination with Eric Adams to deploy 750 National Guard soldiers to the NYC subway system and empower them to conduct random bag checks on subway-goers. She also put forth legislation to allow judges to ban criminals from riding the subway.

In May 2024, Hochul was criticized for saying at a business conference that minority children growing up in the Bronx "don't even know what the word 'computer' is." She later apologized, saying she misspoke and regretted her remark.

In June 2024, Hochul indefinitely halted implementation of a congestion pricing plan in the most congested parts of Manhattan just weeks before it was to go into effect. The plan was approved in 2019 and was expected to bring in $1 billion in revenue per year, making it the MTA's largest source of funding. At the time of the cancellation, the MTA had already purchased $500 million for equipment needed for congestion pricing and earmarked $15 billion for projects it expected to fund with the revenue. Hochul proposed raising the city's payroll tax for business owners to cover the lost revenue from the cancellation of the congestion pricing, which New York lawmakers declined to consider. Her decision received widespread backlash, especially among state lawmakers, business leaders, and climate activists.

Hochul defended her sudden decision to block the congestion pricing plan based in part on conversations with New Yorkers, particularly from a Manhattan diner, and claimed that the plan would "suck the vitality out of this city when we’re still fighting for our comeback". Lawmakers said her plan to raise payroll taxes to cover the lost revenue ran contrary to her reason for halting the program, and that the sudden tax hike would incapacitate the city's post-COVID-19 economic recovery. Democratic Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris condemned how the agreed-upon program was derailed "at the last possible moment" before giving lawmakers less than 48 hours to create an alternative funding plan, calling it "irresponsible" and "inconsistent with principles of good governance". Senator Zellnor Myrie called it "incomprehensible" that Hochul could claim to care about cost of living while proposing a tax hike.

In June 2024, Hochul proposed banning face masks on the New York City Subway in response to groups of protesters she said were conducting antisemitic acts and confronting people while covering their faces. Organizations such as the New York Civil Liberties Union criticized the proposal as a means to target protesters who hide their identities to avoid legal or professional repercussions, saying it would be selectively used to "arrest, doxx, surveil, and silence people of color and protesters the police disagree with".