January 1, 2023 will be a historic day for New York as Governor Kathy Hochul prepares to be sworn in to a four-year term, becoming the first woman to be sworn in as governor of the state.
Hochul, Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, Attorney General Letitia James and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli will take office and deliver speeches at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany.
The ceremony will start at 2.00pm, with a focus on Hochul’s historic victory. Banners reading “Making History, Making a Difference” should be posted at the convention center.
Hochul, a Buffalo native, is expected to deliver a speech focusing on his personal history and values ahead of his administration’s first full term.
Young women from across the state will appear in a video titled “The First,” reading excerpts from essays about what the historic Hochul takeover means to them.
Kayden Hern, an 8-year-old from Harlem, will be the opening ceremony poet laureate, reciting his poem “In My Mind.”
Kayden met Hochul at a public event at the Apollo Theater and she invited him to be her inauguration poet laureate after hearing her poetry, according to the governor’s office.
Sunday’s ceremony will also highlight Hochul’s journey from working in local government to becoming a US congresswoman and then state lieutenant governor before ascending to the governor’s mansion in Albany.
Hochul will be sworn in on two Bibles: a personal family Bible and the State Bible on loan from the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library, which originally belonged to FDR’s great-grandfather.
Hochul will speak about the historic nature of his inauguration in his speech Sunday afternoon, but he is also expected to set out his vision of a New York City that is safe, accessible and equal for all, according to the governor’s office.
Hochul will focus on his legislative priorities and policy proposals for the 2023 legislative session during his State of the Art address to the House of Assembly on Jan. 10. Lawmakers return to Albany and resume session on January 4.
Hochul became New York’s first female governor in August 2021, after former Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned following a sexual harassment investigation and legislative impeachment inquiry.
