Kathy Hochul

Kathleen Mary Courtney was born in Buffalo, New York, the second of the six children of John Patrick "Jack" Courtney, a clerical worker, and Patricia Ann "Pat" Courtney (née Rochford), a homemaker. Her family is Irish Catholic. The family struggled financially during Hochul's early years and for a time lived in a trailer near a steel plant. By the time Hochul was in college, her father was working for the information technology company he later headed.

Hochul graduated from Hamburg High School in 1976. She was politically active during her college years at Syracuse University, becoming a student government vice president. She led a boycott of the student bookstore over high prices and an unsuccessful effort to name the university stadium after alumnus Ernie Davis, a star running back who died of cancer before he could join the National Football League. Hochul also lobbied the university to divest from apartheid South Africa. The university divested in November 1985, more than five years after she graduated. In the spring of 1979, the student newspaper The Daily Orange awarded her an "A", citing the campus changes as evidence for the grade.

Hochul received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in political science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 1980. She enrolled at the Columbus School of Law of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and received a Juris Doctor in 1984.

After graduation from law school, Hochul began working for a Washington, D.C., law firm, but she found the work unsatisfying. She then worked as legal counsel and legislative assistant to U.S. Representative John LaFalce and U.S. Senator Daniel Moynihan, and also for the New York State Assembly, before seeking elected office.

Hochul became involved in local issues as a supporter of small businesses facing competition from Walmart stores and, in the process, caught the attention of local Democratic leaders. On January 3, 1994, the Hamburg Town Board voted to appoint her to the vacant seat on the board caused by Patrick H. Hoak's resignation to become town supervisor. She was elected to a full term in November 1994, on the Democratic and Conservative lines, and was reelected in 1998, 2002, and 2006. She resigned on April 10, 2007, and was succeeded by former state assemblymember Richard A. Smith. While on the board, she led efforts to remove toll booths from parts of the New York State Thruway system.

In May 2003, Erie County Clerk David Swarts appointed Hochul as his deputy. Governor Eliot Spitzer named Swarts to his administration in January 2007 and appointed Hochul to succeed Swarts as county clerk in April 2007. In an intervention that raised her statewide profile, Hochul opposed Spitzer's proposal to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses without producing Social Security cards. She said that if the proposal went into effect, she would seek to have any such applicants arrested. On November 6, 2007, Hochul was elected to fill the remainder of Swarts's term. On November 14, 2007, Spitzer abandoned his effort to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses.

In 2010, New York Democrats proposed mandating that all New York drivers obtain new license plates. The proposal was expected to bring the state government $129 million in revenue. Hochul opposed the proposal, and it was withdrawn.

In November 2010, Hochul ran for reelection on four ballot lines (Democratic, Conservative, Independence, and Working Families), defeating Republican Clifton Bergfeld with 80% of the vote.

After Hochul's departure as county clerk, newly elected County Clerk Chris Jacobs discovered a backlog of mail and later said that $792,571 in checks were found in it.

Health care

Hochul expressed support for the Affordable Care Act passed by the 111th Congress and said during her 2011 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 employers provide their workers with insurance coverage for birth control. A spokesman later said she had misspoken, but did not clarify her answer.

Hochul has said she is pro-choice and called the overturning of Roe v. Wade a "grave injustice".

Hochul is married to William J. Hochul Jr., the former United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, who is also the senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary to Delaware North, a hospitality and gambling company. They have two children named William and Caitlin. Hochul is Catholic.

Hochul is a founder of Kathleen Mary House, a transitional home for women and children who are victims of domestic violence. She has served on the organization's board. She also co-founded the Village Action Coalition, and, as of 2011, was a member of the board of trustees of Immaculata Academy in Hamburg, New York.

In 2024, Hochul was diagnosed with a basal-cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer, on her nose. She underwent surgery to remove it in the same year.

Energy

During her 2011 congressional campaign, Hochul favored offering incentives to develop alternative energy.

In June 2011, Hochul opposed legislation that would cut funding for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) by 44%, on the grounds 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".

Fiscal policy

While running for Congress in 2011, Hochul supported raising taxes on those making more than $500,000 per year. She acknowledged during her campaign that substantial cuts must be made in the federal budget, and said she would consider cuts in all entitlement programs. But she expressed opposition to the Republican plan that would turn Medicare into a voucher system, saying it "would end Medicare as we know it". She said money could be saved in the Medicare program by eliminating waste and purchasing prescription drugs in bulk, and that the creation of more jobs would alleviate Medicare and Social Security budget shortfalls due to increased collections of payroll taxes.

As a member of Congress, Hochul voted for a balanced budget amendment, which she called "a bipartisan solution".

In July 2023, in response to a statewide workforce shortage, Governor Hochul waived exam application fees for all New York State civil service exams through the end of 2025 to make it easier to join the state workforce.