Hochul faces unique challenges as new governor of New York

Day one for Gov. Kathy Hochul in Albany is nearly a year and a half into a pandemic that has killed tens of thousands of New Yorkers and continues to hospitalize more than 2,000 people. 

Her first comes after a scandal-scarred former administration faces questions over how nursing home deaths were reported during the worst of the crisis last year. And it comes schools are set to reopen and businesses are warily eyeing the effect of the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19 that could scramble return-to-work plans. 

Hochul was sworn in at midnight as New York's 57th governor and the first woman to serve as the state's chief executive and Buffalo resident in more than a century. 

On Tuesday, she's set to hold a public swearing-in ceremony at the state Capitol in the ceremonial office of the governor known as the Red Room. Later in the morning, she will meet with the top leaders in the state Senate, Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. 

She replaces Andrew Cuomo, the governor for the last decade who led New York with nearly unquestioned power for a decade, only to resign this month amid a sexual harassment scandal that had simmered for most of 2021. 

Steeped in the world of local government in Erie County, Hochul has pledged to take a more collaborative approach on the pandemic than her predecessor. 

Cuomo continues to face investigations stemming from how his administration reported nursing home fatalities and where those residents died as well as a criminal probe by the Albany County sheriff following an allegation of inappropriate touching. Attorney General Letitia James's office is investigating his office's alleged use of government resources to help him write a book about the pandemic.

Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing, and in a defiant farewell speech, said the sexual harassment allegations that led to his resignation made for a media frenzy he couldn't overcome.  

Hochul has already sought to assert herself stylistically different from Cuomo. She's pledged there won't be the kind of bullying tactics from her office that had for many become a hallmark of the Cuomo years in Albany. 

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Hochul has already indicated she will run for a full term next year and plans to announce her choice for lieutenant governor later this week. Her No. 2 is expected to be from New York City, and will likely be a person of color, and several names have been floated from the state Legislature, including Sens. Jamaal Bailey and Brian Benjamin as well as Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte. 

But for New Yorkers, the key issue facing the state likely remains the pandemic, the uncertain path forward with the recovery of the economy and the reopening. 

Billions of dollars in rental assistance has been slow to get out the door to landlords and tenants in order to stave off evictions. A moratorium on evictions is set to expire at the end of the month, and a portion of it was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Hochul has also pledged to provide aid to undocumented New Yorkers who were not included in a round of federal pandemic aid. 

“We all know the challenges facing New Yorkers are immense," said Sen. John Mannion. "The pandemic rages on, confusion and concern abound as schools work to safely welcome back students and faculty, an ever-growing crisis of overdose and addiction, the need to get billions in rental assistance out the door, and a workforce crisis among those who care for disabled New Yorkers that is spiraling out of control." 

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