Andrew Cuomo left office Monday at 11:59 p.m. after a decade as New York’s governor.
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul took his place after she was sworn in at a midnight ceremony conducted by the state’s chief judge, Janet DiFiore.
Moving vans were spotted outside the Governor’s Mansion over the weekend. Cuomo, who resigned two weeks ago, reportedly left his dog, Captain, behind.
Captain is the husky-shepherd-malamute mix Cuomo adopted in 2018. A spokesman told the Times-Union of Albany that he was only seeking a temporary placement for the dog. So Cuomo got a dog for political optics and photo ops but didn’t really want to deal it beyond that. Seems like a solid metaphor for the state of today’s Democrat Party. https://t.co/hgIkYDNEAh
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 23, 2021
“Mr. Cuomo resigned rather than face impeachment over allegations that he sexually harassed 11 women, covered up statistics on COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes and improperly used staff to write his book last year,” says The Washington Times. “He plans to live temporarily with one of his sisters in Westchester County.”
“As governor, Cuomo proclaimed himself a 'progressive Democrat' who gets things done: Since taking office in 2011, he helped push through legislation that legalized gay marriage, began lifting the minimum wage to $15 and expanded paid family leave benefits. He also backed big infrastructure projects, including a new Hudson River bridge that he named after his father,” per AP News.
As his final act in office, Cuomo granted clemency to six people.
Hochul is a 62-year-old Democrat and former member of Congress from the Buffalo area. She will be the state’s 57th governor as well as the first female governor in the state’s history.
She described Cuomo’s resignation as “the right thing to do and in the best interest of New Yorkers.”
According to her website, Hochul is a lifelong New Yorker who was raised in a blue-collar Irish Catholic family in Buffalo. She has a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a JD from Catholic University. She was an aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan before serving on her Town Board, Erie County Clerk, and, eventually, as a Member of Congress.
