“Today, for the first time in New York history, a woman will enter that arena as governor,” Hochul said Tuesday.

It’s a new dawn for New York with a woman finally at its helm. Kathy Hochul has shattered the glass ceiling as the state’s first female chief executive.

She was sworn in wearing the color of suffragettes, later honoring the women on whose shoulders she stands.

What You Need To Know

  • At her historic swearing-in, Gov. Kathy Hochul made several references to the trailblazing women who came before her

  • Hochul and Stewart-Cousins now make up "two women in a room" in negotiating with Heastie

  • Of the 45 woman governors in U.S. history, 12 have ascended to the post because their predecessor was removed, resigned or died

“I could not get here without the courage and sacrifice of others, the courage of the early suffragettes who began the long march for equality and the elected women who came before me, paving the way for this state,” she said in her first address as governor.

Hochul’s daughter and daughter-in-law also wore white as they witnessed her take the oath of office.

And the woman who administered that oath similarly dressed for the historic moment.

“Chief Judge DiFiore, who graced me by wearing the same robe that was worn by the first female Court of Appeals judge, Judith Kaye,” Hochul noted.

Hochul’s ascension to the post of governor — and, subsequently, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins’ move to the post of acting lieutenant governor — puts women in a position of statewide influence as never before.

“My great friend, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, we’ve been on a long journey together and I so look forward to continue the relationship that we’ve had, but even deepening it,” Hochul said Tuesday.

What once was “three men in a room” making the state’s biggest decisions now is two women in a room, plus Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

“When I broke that glass ceiling in 2019 to become the first woman leader of a conference, it was hopefully inspiring to so many people who had never been aspiring, frankly, to be in the quote-unquote room where it happens,” Stewart-Cousins said Tuesday. “And to now, two years later, be in the room with the first woman governor.”

New York also has its first woman attorney general in Letitia James.

Hochul becomes only the ninth woman governor currently serving in the United States.

And of the 45 woman governors in U.S. history, she and 11 others took the perch after the resignation, removal or death of their predecessor.

Hochul’s first major appointments to her fledgling administration are women and she signaled she’ll continue to prioritize representation.

“I have my secretary, Karen Keogh, has been identified as well as Elizabeth Fine as counsel, but I believe in a fully diverse Cabinet,” Hochul said.