State leaders are offering their condolences for Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, who died suddenly Friday at the age of 88, following a fall at her home.
Governor Andrew Cuomo in a statement calls Slaughter a “trailblazer” and a “champion for New York” who served in the U.S. House of Representatives with “unmatched charm, sharp wit and an insatiable passion to improve the lives of everyone in her community”.
Cuomo says he first met Slaughter four decades ago, when they both worked for his father, the later former Governor Mario Cuomo, and they were friends ever since.
The governor’s chief of staff, Melissa DeRosa, who is the first female to hold that post, shared on Twitter a photo of DeRosa at four years old, marching in a parade in Slaughter’s first successful campaign for Congress, in 1986. DeRosa writes “she was the 1st female politician who made me think I could stand up to the boys & be anyone I wanted to be”.
Cuomo will need to call a special session to fill Slaughter’s seat. Whoever is elected, would then fill out the term, and could run again in November.
