FOG BLOG U.S. POLITICS LOG: NY GOV. CUOMO RESIGNS AMID SEXUAL ALLEGATIONS , LT . GOV. TAKES OVER!

Kathy Hochul set to become New York’s first female governor after Cuomo resigns.......The Empire State will see its first female governor.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to take over running the New York state government in two weeks from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who announced his resignation Tuesday after a sexual harassment scandal. A report released last week by the state Attorney General’s office claimed that the three-term governor had sexually harassed at least 11 current and former staffers. Both Cuomo and his lawyer have strongly denied the allegations.

Cuomo lauded his successor’s ability to lead during Tuesday’s livestream. “Kathy Hochul, my lieutenant governor, is smart and competent,” he said. “This transition must be seamless. We have a lot going on. I’m very worried about the delta variant, and so should you be, but she can come up to speed quickly.”

Hochul issued a brief statement on Twitter following Cuomo’s remarks. “It is the right thing to do and in the best interest of New Yorkers,” she said. “As someone who has served at all levels of government and is next in the line of succession, I am prepared to lead as New York State’s 57th governor.”

Hochul, who turns 63 this month, grew up in an Irish-Catholic family in Buffalo, New York, as one of six children, according to her biography on the U.S. House of Representatives website. She graduated from Syracuse University and earned her law degree from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1983. A year later, she married William Hochul, a practicing attorney, with whom she has two children.