Kathleen Hochul is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party. She is the current Governor of New York and the first female to hold this position. Hochul was born in Buffalo, New York and is of Irish Catholic descent.
She graduated from Syracuse University in 1980 and received a Juris Doctor from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C. in 1984. Before becoming the Governor, Hochul held various political positions, including as a U.S. representative and as the Lieutenant Governor of New York.
Kathleen Hochul was born in Buffalo, New York, in a family of six children. Her father was a college student and clerical worker, and her mother was a homemaker. The family struggled financially, and for a time lived in a trailer near a steel plant.
Hochul attended Syracuse University, where she became politically active, leading a boycott of the student bookstore over high prices. She graduated from Syracuse University in 1980 and received a Juris Doctor from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C. in 1984.
After serving on the Hamburg town board and as deputy Erie County clerk, Hochul was appointed Erie County clerk in 2007. She was elected to a full term as Erie County clerk in 2007 and reelected in 2010. Hochul won a four-candidate special election for New York’s 26th congressional district to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of then-Representative Chris Lee in May 2011.
She served as a U.S. representative from 2011 to 2013. In the 2014 New York gubernatorial election, Andrew Cuomo selected Hochul as his running mate, and after they won the election, she was inaugurated as Lieutenant Governor. Cuomo and Hochul were reelected in 2018. Hochul became the Governor of New York on August 24, 2021, after Andrew Cuomo resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment. She got married to william J Hochul in 1984
Kathy Hochul’s Husband, William J. Hochul Jr
Kathleen Hochul’s husband, William J. Hochul Jr., is an American lawyer who served as United States attorney for the Western District of New York from 2010 to 2016. William J. Hochul Jr. was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1959. His grandparents were all Jewish immigrants from Poland.
He graduated from Cheektowaga Central High School in Cheektowaga, New York, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from State University of New York at Buffalo in 1984. William J. Hochul Jr. is currently the Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary to Delaware North, a Buffalo-based casino and hospitality company.
William J. Hochul Jr. worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District of New York from 1991 to 2010. During this time, he held several important positions, including Chief of the Anti-Terrorism Unit from 2002 to 2007 and Chief of the National Security Division from 2007 to 2010.
Hochul was one of the members of the Buffalo Joint Terrorism Task Force who were awarded the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the highest award of the Department of Justice. The award was given for their exceptional work in dismantling the Lackawanna, New York terrorist cell, which led to the conviction of six Yemeni-Americans for providing material support to Al-Qaeda. Throughout his career, Hochul received more than four dozen honors and awards for his work.
Aiva Arthur
