Andrew Cuomo neared the end of his decade as New York’s governor Monday, as he prepared to relinquish his tight grip on government to Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul in a midnight power transfer that will break another glass ceiling for women in state politics. Cuomo, a Democrat, was set to end his term at 11:59 p.m., just under two weeks after he announced he would resign rather than face a likely impeachment battle over sexual harassment allegations. Hochul was scheduled be sworn in as New York’s first female governor just after midnight in a brief, private ceremony overseen by the state’s chief judge, Janet DiFiore. Read:Kathy Hochul to be 1st female NY governor after Cuomo leaves The switch in leadership was happening in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Henri, which narrowly missed Long Island on Sunday but was dumping potentially dangerous amounts of rain over parts of the Catskill Mountains and Hudson River Valley, even after it was downgraded to a tropical depression. The storm drew Cuomo back out into public view over the weekend, albeit briefly. He gave two televised briefings — warning New Yorkers to take the storm seriously with the same mix of scolding and reassurance that once made his daily COVID-19 briefings popular. Perhaps if the storm had been catastrophic Cuomo might have been tempted to put off his resignation. But as the potential for danger diminished, he said there would be no change in his plans. “My final day is tomorrow,” he said Sunday. Hochul, also a Democrat, will inherit immense challenges as she takes over an administration facing criticism for inaction in Cuomo’s distracted final months in office. COVID-19 has refused to abate. Schools are set to reopen in the coming weeks, with big decisions to be made about whether to require masks for students or vaccination for teachers. The state’s economic recovery from the pandemic is still incomplete. Cuomo’s resignation comes after an independent investigation overseen by state Attorney General Letitia James concluded there was credible evidence he’d sexually harassed at least 11 women, including an aide who said he groped her breast and has since filed a complaint with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators also said Cuomo’s senior staff retaliated against at least one of those women and worked to undermine the credibility of others. Cuomo insists he didn’t touch anyone inappropriately and called the allegations “unfair” and “untruthful,” but said he wouldn’t force the state to endure an impeachment trial he couldn’t win. Read:New York Governor Andrew Cuomo resigns over sexual harassment Separately, Cuomo was facing a legislative investigation into whether he misled the public about COVD-19 deaths in nursing homes to protect his reputation as a pandemic leader and improperly got help from state employees in writing a pandemic book that may net him $5 million. Cuomo has offered few hints about his plans or where he’ll live after leaving the Executive Mansion. He told New York magazine in a recent interview that he’s “not disappearing.” In his resignation speech Aug. 10 he spoke with pride about his record of legalizing same-sex marriage, expanding paid family leave and boosting the statewide minimum wage to $15. Hochul will need to quickly build her own team of advisers who can help steer the administration for at least the next 16 months. She plans to keep on Cuomo-era employees for 45 days to allow her time to interview new hires, but said she will not keep anyone found to have behaved unethically. At least 35 employees in the governor’s office have left since February, according to staff rosters. Hochul, who said she didn’t work closely with Cuomo and wasn’t aware of the harassment allegations before they became public, has vowed no one will ever call her workplace “toxic.” “I have a different approach to governing,” Hochul said Wednesday in Queens, adding, “I get the job done because I don’t have time for distractions, particularly coming into this position.” Hochul has already said she plans to run for a full four-year term next year. She’ll do so as the state Democratic Party grapples with an internal struggle between moderate and liberal New Yorkers. Read: Cuomo’s top aide resigns as governor faces harassment furor Hochul, who once represented a conservative Western New York district in Congress for a year and has a reputation as a moderate, is expected to pick a left-leaning state lawmaker from New York City as her lieutenant governor. State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs praised Hochul as “formidable.” “She’s very experienced and I think she’ll be a refreshing and exciting new governor,” he said.

As New York’s lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul has spent years on the road as the friendly face of the administration, visiting the far-flung coffee shops and factory floors of each of the state’s 62 counties for countless ribbon-cutting ceremonies and civic cheerleading events. Now, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation over sexual harassment allegations Tuesday, her next stop is the state Capitol in Albany. Hochul will become the state’s first female governor once Cuomo’s resignation is effective in two weeks. “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,” she said in a statement Tuesday. Read:New York Governor Andrew Cuomo resigns over sexual harassment A centrist Democrat from western New York, she has worked deep in Cuomo’s shadow for her two terms in office, but last week joined the chorus of politicians denouncing the governor after an independent investigation concluded he had sexually harassed 11 women while in office. “I believe these brave women,” Hochul wrote, calling Cuomo’s behavior “repulsive and unlawful” in a statement last Tuesday. After Cuomo announced his decision to step down, Hochul called it “the right thing to do and in the best interest of New Yorkers.” A spokesperson tells The Associated Press that New York state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins is set to take on the duties of lieutenant governor. No other state has two women leading — though in Oregon, in the absence of a deputy governor, the next in line in succession of Gov. Kate Brown is Secretary of State Shemia Fagan. Eight states currently have female governors. To many New Yorkers, Hochul is an unknown quantity, serving since 2015 in a job that is mostly ceremonial. A typical afternoon in late July had her announcing job training funding in Utica, discussing manufacturing in Rome and touring downtown Cazenovia with the small town’s mayor. That has been nothing like the attention-demanding appearances of the determinedly high-profile Cuomo, who does most of his business in Albany and New York City and whose daily coronavirus briefings were national events at the height of the coronavirus. Hochul has not been part of Cuomo’s inner circle of aides and allies. Her name wasn’t mentioned in the investigative report, released by Attorney General Letitia James, that detailed not only the harassment allegations against Cuomo but also efforts by his staff to discredit some of his accusers. But at 62, Hochul is an experienced politician, a veteran of 11 campaigns that have taken her from town board to Congress, the latter representing a conservative western New York district after a surprising 2011 win in a special election to fill a vacancy in the U.S. House. She received votes of confidence from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Sen. Charles Schumer on Tuesday in Washington, and from numerous elected officials and others in New York including Attorney General Letitia James, who oversaw the investigation. “Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will be an extraordinary governor,” Gillibrand told reporters at the U.S. Capitol. “She understands the complexities and needs of our state, having been both a congresswoman and having been lieutenant governor for the last several years.” Former Erie County Democratic Chairman Len Lenihan, a longtime ally in western New York, called her promotion “a happy ending to a very sad situation” and said few people have been as prepared for the office as she is. “She’s humble and kind, but also tough. And she is going to do a fabulous job. The people in New York are going to come to really admire her abilities, her strength and her personally,” he said. “Pragmatic would be a good way to describe her,” said Jacob Neiheisel, an associate political science professor at the University at Buffalo. “Someone who is pretty good at reading the tea leaves and coming around to where her constituency is.” Read: Cuomo’s top aide resigns as governor faces harassment furor Hochul’s office declined an interview request last week. The Associated Press reached out again Tuesday. A steelworker’s daughter, Hochul, a lawyer, worked in Washington as an aide to former U.S. Rep. John LaFalce and later, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, both from New York, before holding her first public office, on the town board in Hamburg, near Buffalo. From there, she became Erie County Clerk, where she made some news in 2007 for resistance to a plan by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer to allow unauthorized immigrants to get driver’s licenses. Hochul and another western New York clerk explored a plan to have police arrest immigrants who tried to apply. “It will be a deterrent, and that’s what I’m looking for,” Hochul told The Buffalo News at the time. Her next move was to Congress, where in 2011 she had a surprising win in a special election in a district that had been in Republican hands for decades. She lost a bid for reelection a year later to Republican Chris Collins, despite an endorsement by the National Rifle Association. Collins later resigned from the U.S. House and pleaded guilty to insider trading. Hochul moved to the left, politically, when Cuomo tapped her as his running mate in 2014 after his first lieutenant governor, former Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy, decided not to run for reelection. She backed New York’s SAFE Act, one of the nation’s toughest gun control laws, as well as the state’s Green Light Law, which let unauthorized immigrants get driver’s licenses. Hochul has not publicly expressed whether she would pursue a full term as governor in 2022. An upstate candidate running for any statewide office in New York faces a daunting challenge, but even more so for the governor’s office, which has historically drawn from New York City. LaFalce, whom Hochul considers a mentor, said in her frequent travels and while presiding over the Senate as lieutenant governor, Hochul has gotten to know the state’s party chairs and elected officials from both parties. “She will have a tremendous army for the spring primary in 2022,” he said. LaFalce noted that she won against strong opponents in her two Democratic primaries for lieutenant governor, Columbia University law professorTimothy Wu and Jumaane Williams, now the New York City public advocate. “No one should dismiss Kathy as a weak candidate. She’s proven her mettle in statewide races,” LaFalce said. “And she now has a war chest of about $1.7 million, which as the governor ... she will be able to amass millions more. She will be formidable in any Democratic primary and I think she will prevail.” Neiheisel said given her record, it is difficult to predict what a “distinctly Hochul agenda” might look like, especially when faced with the state’s still-active pandemic response and a recovery that will involve billions of dollars in federal aid. “Given how little she’s historically been in the news cycle, I really don’t think she has the kind of name recognition that you would expect of somebody who is suddenly being thrust into a position of maybe being governor,” Neiheisel said “She’s going to have to do an awful lot, really fast, in order for there to be a serious conversation for keeping that job.” Read: New York Gov. Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, probe finds At a news briefing last Wednesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has a famously contentious relationship with Cuomo, said he’s gotten to know Hochul over the last few years and “she strikes me as a very reasonable person.” “I believe if Kathy Hochul becomes governor, she’ll be an honest broker,” he said then. “We’ll be able to work together.” In Buffalo, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz worked alongside Hochul when he was county comptroller and she was Erie County Clerk. He said he saw Hochul easily stepping into the governor’s office. “I know she has the work ethic, determination, and skill set to not only succeed as governor,” he said Tuesday, “but to take the Empire State to new heights.”

Melissa DeRosa, a fixture next to Gov. Andrew Cuomo for months during his coronavirus news conferences, resigned late Sunday on the heels of a report that found Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women, leaving the governor without his top aide as he faces the prospect of impeachment. DeRosa, who had been one of Cuomo’s most fierce defenders and strategists, said in a statement sent to multiple new organizations that serving the people of New York had been “the greatest honor of my life.” But she added that “Personally, the past two years have been emotionally and mentally trying.” Read: New York Gov. Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, probe finds She didn’t give a more specific reason for her resignation. “I am forever grateful for the opportunity to have worked with such talented and committed colleagues on behalf of our state,” she said. DeRosa’s departure comes as Cuomo has dug in for the fight of his political life despite the threat of criminal investigations and widespread calls for his impeachment. Scores of Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have urged him to leave office or face an impeachment battle he probably cannot win. About two-thirds of state Assembly members have already said they favor an impeachment trial if he refuses to resign. Nearly all 63 members of the state Senate have called for Cuomo to step down or be removed. More punishing news for the governor is expected Monday when an Assembly committee meets to discuss possible impeachment proceedings and “CBS This Morning” is scheduled to broadcast the first TV interview from an executive assistant who accused Cuomo of groping her breast. In her first public interview in which she identified herself, Brittany Commisso told CBS and the Times-Union newspaper, of Albany, that what Cuomo did was a crime and that he “needs to be held accountable.” Commisso has said Cuomo reached under her shirt and fondled her when they were alone in a room at the Executive Mansion last year and on another occasion rubbed her rear end while they posed for a photo. She was the first woman to file a criminal complaint against Cuomo. “He broke the law,” she said in an excerpt of an interview scheduled to be aired in full on Monday. The Associated Press does not identify alleged victims of sexual misconduct unless they speak out publicly, as Commisso has done. Cuomo, who has denied touching any women inappropriately, has largely been holed up in the governor’s mansion since the release of a 168-page report written by two independent attorneys selected by the state attorney general to investigate his behavior. His lawyers have attacked the credibility and motives of his accusers. DeRosa, who often defended Cuomo when he faced public criticism, had been with the administration since 2013. She got the title “secretary to the governor” in 2017, and was probably the most recognizable face in the administration after Cuomo. She appeared by his side in most of his news briefings and often fielded policy questions from reporters when the governor didn’t know enough details to answer. Read:Top Dems call on Cuomo to resign amid harassment allegations DeRosa was mentioned 187 times in the attorney general’s report, which detailed the administration’s efforts to discredit some of his accusers. The report described DeRosa as a central figure in his office’s retaliation against one of the women, Lindsey Boylan, after she became the first person to speak out publicly. The administration released internal memos showing that Boylan had, herself, been the subject of complaints about toxic workplace behavior. The investigators’ report also revealed some tension between DeRosa and Cuomo: She told investigators she was so upset with the way Cuomo had handled a conversation with one of his accusers, former aide Charlotte Bennett, that she angrily got out of his car when it stopped at a traffic light. “She told the governor, ‘I can’t believe that this happened. I can’t believe you put yourself in a situation where you would be having any version of this conversation,’” the report said. The governor’s lawyers have promised what will likely be a drawn-out fight to stay in office, and few see him as willing to quit. “My sense is from what I’m hearing is he’s still looking for ways to fight this and get his side of the story out,” state Democratic party Chairman Jay Jacobs said in an interview with The AP. But Jacobs added: “I just think that he’s going to, at some point, see that the political support is just not anywhere near enough to even make an attempt worthwhile.” Cuomo lawyer, Rita Glavin, told CNN on Saturday that he had no plans to resign. She called the attorney general’s report “shoddy” and “biased” and “an ambush.” Dozens of state lawmakers who were once hesitant to call for Cuomo’s resignation or impeachment told the AP in recent interviews that they were swayed by the heft of the report. “I think the majority of us feel that the governor is not in a position to lead the state any longer, and that’s not a temporary position,” said Assembly member John McDonald, a Democrat whose district includes Albany. The state Assembly’s judiciary committee planned to meet Monday to discuss when to conclude its monthslong investigation into whether there are grounds to impeach Cuomo. The investigation has focused on sexual harassment and misconduct, the administration’s past refusal to release how many nursing home residents died of COVID-19, the use of state resources for Cuomo’s $5 million book deal and efforts to prioritize COVID-19 tests for the governor’s inner circle in spring 2020, when testing was scarce. Some lawmakers want an impeachment vote in days, but committee members say the probe could wrap up in a month. State law requires at least 30 days between an Assembly impeachment vote and Senate impeachment trial. Assembly member Amanda Septimo called for urgency, saying Cuomo was damaging the Democratic Party nationally. Read: NY's Cuomo to receive International Emmy for virus briefings “I’m willing to put money on how soon we see Cuomo’s face on an attack mailer somewhere in Ohio,” she said. Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul would take over for Cuomo if a majority of the 150-member Assembly votes to impeach him. Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said Saturday that Cuomo could face misdemeanor charges if investigators substantiate Commisso’s complaint. At least five district attorneys have asked for materials from the attorney general’s inquiry to see if any of the allegations could result in criminal charges.