Kathy Hochul Is Sworn In As New York’s 57th and First Female Elected Governor

Kathy Hochul took the oath of office on New Year’s Day becoming the first elected female governor of New York State. She pledged to take on battles over the next four years, including fighting against gun violence, anti-Semitism, and other bigotry and recent decisions by the US Supreme Court.

Hochul took the oath, administered by longtime NAACP President Hazel Dukes, using two bibles. One was her family bible, and the other was the Roosevelt family bible, borrowed from the FDR Presidential Library, first published in the 1600s, and written in Dutch.  

The program included videos from young women noting the significance of the day, a gospel choir, and 8-year-old Harlem resident Kayden Hern, named the Poet Laureate of the 2023 Inaugural Ceremonies, reciting his poem “In My Mind”.

Hochul, who first took office in August of 2021 when former Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned in a sexual harassment scandal, name-checked historical women figures in New York who influenced her, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, the late Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and Hillary Clinton.

But she noted she is not only beginning her term to make history but, she says, to make a difference. Hochul says she will prioritize resolving the affordable housing crisis and the scourge of gun violence, that took the lives of 10 people in a mass shooting in her hometown of Buffalo last spring, as well as hate crimes, anti-Semitism, and other bigotry.  

“Those are the fights we are called to take on,” Hochul said. “We must”.

Hochul also gave a shout-out to police and other emergency response professionals in Buffalo, where a devastating Christmas blizzard killed 39.

Hochul, who last November won the election by the smallest margin in a generation, faced criticism from her opponent over the state’s high crime rate. She vowed to make the state safer. She also pledged to continue to protect the right to choose abortion, marriage, and voting, and improve a flagging economy.

“And we must reverse the trend of people leaving our state in search of lower costs and opportunities elsewhere,” Hochul said. “We can do this.”

New York has the highest out-migration rate of any state in the nation.  

The state’s lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, the state attorney general, Tish James, and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, all democrats, were also sworn into new four-year terms during the ceremony.

After the ceremony, Hochul has a busy month scheduled, with the State of the State address on January 10th, and her state budget plan due by February.

It’s not going to be all smooth sailing for the governor, though.

In between those addresses, her choice for New York’s new chief judge, Hector LaSalle, faces a tough confirmation process from the New York Senate, where a dozen Democratic Senators have pledged not to vote for the governor’s choice.