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

Hochul ran in the May 24, 2011, special election to fill the seat in New York's 26th congressional district left vacant by the resignation of 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 disqualify her from seeking the seat. One month after her victory, she moved into the district.

The Republican and Conservative Party nominee, State Assemblymember 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 showed Corwin leading Hochul by 36% to 31%; Tea Party candidate Jack Davis trailed at 23%. An early May poll gave Hochul a lead of 35% to 31%, and shortly thereafter the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report called the race a toss-up. Additional polling in the days immediately before the election had Hochul leading by four- and six-point margins.

A Washington Post article noted that in the face of a possible Hochul victory, there was already a "full blown spin war" about the meaning of the result. The article said that Democrats viewed the close race as a result of Republicans' budget proposal "The Path to Prosperity", and, in particular, their proposal for Medicare reform. Republicans viewed it as the result of Davis's third-party candidacy.

The campaign featured a number of negative television ads. FactCheck accused both sides of "taking liberties with the facts". In particular, FactCheck criticized the Democrats' ads for claiming that Corwin would "essentially end Medicare", even though the plan left Medicare intact for current beneficiaries. The organization also faulted the Republicans for ads portraying Hochul as a puppet of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and for claiming that Hochul planned to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Hochul was endorsed by EMILY's List, a political action committee that supports Democratic women candidates who support abortion rights. She was the fifth largest recipient of EMILY's List funds in 2011, receiving more than $27,000 in bundled donations. …

In 2014, Robert Duffy announced that he would not run for reelection as lieutenant governor. Incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo was running for a second term. After Duffy's announcement, Cuomo named Hochul—who had been working as a government relations executive for M&T Bank—as his choice for lieutenant governor. On May 22, 2014, the delegates to the state Democratic convention formally endorsed Hochul for lieutenant governor.

In September, Cuomo and Hochul won their Democratic primary elections, with Hochul defeating Timothy Wu. They were also the Working Families Party nominees. (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.

In the 2018 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor of New York, Hochul defeated Jumaane Williams, a member of the New York City Council, 53.3%–46.7%. In the November 6 general election, the Cuomo-Hochul ticket defeated the Republican ticket of Marc Molinaro and Julie Killian, 59.6%–36.2%.

Cuomo tasked Hochul with chairing the 10 regional economic development councils that were the centerpiece of his economic development plan. He also appointed her to chair the Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Abuse and Addiction. In this capacity, she convened eight outreach sessions across New York State to hear from experts and community members in search of answers to the heroin crisis and worked to develop a comprehensive strategy for New York.

Hochul spearheaded Cuomo's "Enough is Enough" campaign to combat sexual assault on college campuses beginning in 2015, hosting and attending more than 25 events. In March 2016, Cuomo named her to the New York State Women's Suffrage 100th Anniversary Commemoration Commission.

In 2018, Hochul supported legislation to provide driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, a policy she had opposed as Erie County Clerk in 2007. While Hochul had said in 2007 that she would seek to have any such applicants arrested if the proposal was implemented, in 2018 she said circumstances had changed.

On May 30, 2018, State Senate Democrats hoped to force a vote on an abortion rights bill known as the Reproductive Health Act. …

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. 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.