Kathy Hochul

In September Cuomo and Hochul won their Democratic primary elections. Cuomo and Hochul were also the nominees of the Working Families Party. (In New York, candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor are nominated separately, but run as a ticket in the general election.) In November the Cuomo/Hochul ticket won the general election. Hochul was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor on January 1, 2015.

Hochul spearheaded Governor Cuomo's Enough is Enough campaign to combat sexual assault on college campuses beginning in 2015 hosting and attending more than 25 events. As the highest ranking female elected official in New York State, she continues to be a champion for women and families across the state. In March 2016, Governor Cuomo named her to the New York State Women's Suffrage 100th Anniversary Commemoration Commission.

In a Washington Post article, it was noted that in the face of a possible victory by Hochul, there was already a "full blown spin war" about the meaning of the results. The article went on to say that, for Democrats, the close race was a result of "House Republicans' budget plan authored by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan — and, in particular, his proposal to turn Medicare into a voucher program." For Republicans, it was the result of millionaire Jack Davis, who spent "millions to pull votes away from Republican Jane Corwin." The article also posited that one overlooked possibility was that Hochul was "simply a stronger candidate" than Corwin. The seat was viewed as a difficult one to obtain for a Democrat, and "only a really solid campaigner could make it happen."

Hochul's political strength stemmed from starting her career as an aide to Senator Daniel Moynihan, who was "one of the most admired politicians in New York history." She has been described as sweet and earnest. She was described as a successful campaigner, but as someone who can do that by "being not the least bit slick." Hochul was linked to tangible local accomplishments, like when she "broke with then Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) on license plates for illegal immigrants — and got a write-up in the New York Times for it."

Robert Duffy announced in 2014 that he would not be a candidate for reelection as Lieutenant Governor. Andrew Cuomo, the incumbent Governor, was running for a second term. After Duffy's announcement, Cuomo named Hochul as his choice for the Lieutenant Governor nomination. On May 22, 2014 the delegates to the state Democratic convention formally endorsed Hochul for Lieutenant Governor.

The Republican and Conservative Party candidate, state legislator Jane Corwin, was at first strongly favored to win in the Republican-leaning district which had sent a Republican to Congress for the previous four decades. A late April poll had Corwin leading Hochul 36-31 percent; independent Tea Party candidate Jack Davis trailed at 23 percent. An early May poll however, gave Hochul a narrow 35–31 lead, and shortly thereafter the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report called the race a "toss-up". Additional polling in the days immediately preceding the election had Hochul leading by four and six point margins.

In the 2012 election, Hochul's district was renumbered as the 27th district. She lost her re-election bid to Collins by a 51% to 49% margin. She was endorsed by the National Rifle Association.

Kathy Hochul was one of 17 Democrats who joined with Republicans in supporting a resolution finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress relating to the ATF gunwalking scandal, a vote on which the National Rifle Association, which supported the resolution, announced it would be scoring lawmakers. Later in 2012, Hochul "trumpeted" her endorsement from the NRA and noted that she was just one of two New York Democrats to receive the NRA's support.

Hochul ran in the four-way special election race of May 24, 2011 to fill the seat in New York's 26th congressional district left vacant by the resignation of Republican Chris Lee. She was the Democratic Party and Working Families Party nominee. Hochul's residence in Hamburg, just outside the 26th district, became an issue during her campaign, though it did not legally disqualify her from seeking the seat. One month after her victory, she moved into the district, fulfilling a campaign promise.

Hochul was endorsed by EMILY's List, a political action committee that supports pro-choice Democratic women candidates. She was the fifth largest recipient of EMILY's List funds in 2011, receiving more than $27,000 in bundled donations from the organization. The Democrat and Chronicle endorsed Hochul "for her tenacity and independence", while The Buffalo News endorsed her for her positions on preserving Medicare and her record of streamlining government.

On September 17, 2011, Robert J. McCarthy noted that Hochul and her election opponent Jack Davis agreed on their opposition to free trade. "We saw what happened with NAFTA; the promises never materialized," she said of the North American Free Trade Agreement. "If I have to stand up to my own party on this, I'm willing to do so."

In June 2011, Hochul opposed legislation that would cut funding for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) by 44 percent, on the ground that the CFTC curbs speculation in oil and the resulting layoffs of CFTC personnel would "make it easier for Big Oil companies and speculators to take advantage of ... consumers".

Hochul called the summer 2011 debt ceiling issue "a distraction" to which the American people should not be subjected.

On November 19, 2011, Brian Tumulty of WQRZ reported that Hochul had voted for a balanced budget amendment, which she called "a bipartisan solution.

While campaigning for Congress, Hochul defined herself as an "independent Democrat". In an interview with the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, she cited as examples of her independence her opposition to Spitzer's drivers' license program for illegal immigrants and her opposition to Governor David Paterson's proposal in 2010 to raise revenue by requiring all vehicle owners to buy new license plates.

Hochul expressed support for the 2010 health care reform legislation passed by the 111th Congress and said during her campaign that she would not vote to repeal it. In response to a constituent's question during a town-hall meeting in February 2012, she was booed for saying that the federal government was not looking to the Constitution under the Obama administration requirement that non-religious employers provide their workers with insurance coverage for birth control. A spokesman later stated that she'd misspoken, but did not clarify her answer.

Hochul served as the County Clerk of Erie County, New York, from 2007 until 2011, when she assumed her seat in Congress. Previously, she was a deputy county clerk, a member of the Hamburg Town Board, a practicing attorney, and a legislative aide. Hochul was defeated for reelection to Congress by former Erie County Executive Chris Collins, after her district was renumbered as 27th district. She also worked as a government relations specialist with Buffalo-based M&T Bank.

In May 2003, Erie County Clerk David Swarts appointed Hochul as his deputy. When Swarts left office in 2007, Governor Eliot Spitzer appointed Hochul to fill the post. Though she had been appointed by Spitzer, she opposed Spitzer's proposal to allow illegal immigrants to apply for a driver's license without producing a social security card. She said that if the proposal went into effect, she would call the sheriff's office to bring such applicants in for questioning. She was elected later in 2007 to fill the remainder of Swarts's term. She ran for reelection on four ballot lines: Democratic, Conservative, Independence and Working Families Party, defeating Republican Clifton Bergfeld in November 2010 with 80 percent of the vote.

She became involved in local issues as a booster of small businesses who tried to counteract the effect of Walmart stores. She was elected as the Democratic and Conservative Party candidate to the Hamburg Town Board in November 1994. She served on the town board until 2007. While on the board, she led efforts to remove toll booths on parts of the New York State Thruway system.

Hochul became politically active during her college years at Syracuse University, leading a boycott of the student bookstore over high prices and an unsuccessful effort to name the university stadium after running back Ernie Davis, an alumnus, instead of the Carrier Corporation. She received her B.A. degree from Syracuse in 1980 and her law degree from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., in 1984.

Following Hochul's departure as County Clerk, a backlog of mail was discovered by newly elected County Clerk Chris Jacobs, who later said that $792,571 in checks were found in the backlogged mail. As County Clerk, Hochul had been in the process of implementing a new system for handling real estate documents when she left after winning the special election for the 26th Congressional District. Jacobs said that $9,000 were spent in overtime to deposit checks and file unopened documents that had accumulated in the interim period after Hochul's departure, while the office was adjusting to the new system.

Kathleen Courtney Hochul (/ˈ h oʊ k əl / HOH -kull; born August 27, 1958) is an American politician serving as Lieutenant Governor of New York since 2015. She previously served as the U.S. Representative for New York's 26th congressional district from June 1, 2011, to January 3, 2013. She prevailed in the four-candidate special election of May 24, 2011, to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation of Republican Chris Lee, and was the first Democrat to represent the district in 40 years.