Announced at an official press conference early this afternoon, Andrew Cuomo announced he will resign as New York’s Governor. Effective in 14 days, Cuomo will step down and Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will take over.
This process began after last week, Attorney general Letitia James announced the findings of an investigation into claims of sexual harassment and assault against Cuomo. The report detailed multiple instances of sexual misconduct committed by Cuomo. Multiple women came out and mentioned incidents involving them and the soon-to-be-former Governor in private. The result of that investigation did not lead to criminal charges against Cuomo, but it did reopen discussions of impeaching Cuomo.
With a majority of Democrats in the Democratic-controlled legislature supporting impeachment, Cuomo took the steps to resign. The baton will now passed to Hochul. Hochul, a former member of Congress from the Buffalo area, is a historic Governor for the state in several ways. Not only is she the first Governor from upstate in quite a long time – as long as 1920, depending on how you define “upstate” – she is also New York’s first female governor. It’s a massive step for the state, but Hochul has a big job on her hands. Not only does she have to clean up the mess of culture from Cuomo, she still has to deal with COVID-19. 2022 is also coming fast and it will be interesting to see if Hochul runs for a full term, and if she does, what opposition she will get. Either way, there is a new era in New York State, with Andrew Cuomo’s long tenure officially over.
