Democratic governor of New York, a Catholic, succeeding Andrew Cuomo after his resignation in 2021. Her mother, Patricia Ann Courtney, died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); the experience of watching her mother lose the ability to walk, eat and speak shaped Hochul's support for assisted dying legislation. She is expected to sign New York's assisted-dying bill into law, having negotiated the toughest safeguards in the country, including filmed patient requests and psychiatric evaluation.
In 2024 she delayed the implementation of congestion pricing in Manhattan even though the cameras were ready to roll. The policy came into force only after Donald Trump won re-election.
Hochul has ruled out the income and corporate tax rises proposed by Zohran Mamdani, saying: "I'm not raising taxes at a time where affordability is the big issue." She faces re-election in 2026. In April 2026, however, she proposed a pied-à-terre tax, backed by Mamdani, on second homes in New York City with assessed values of $5m or more whose owners are not tax-residents, expected to raise $500m annually.
By the time of Zohran Mamdani's inauguration as mayor in January 2026, Hochul said she had found the money to pay for his promised expansion of public child care.
History repeats itself -- the first time as a tragi-comedy, the second time as bedroom farce.