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Shortly after sexual harassment allegations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo surfaced, his press office stopped regularly publishing the public schedule of his next in line: Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The former member of Congress from Buffalo, who had simply expressed support for the investigation launched by State Attorney General Letitia James, went about her largely powerless job, attending ceremonies and making it a point of pride to visit all of New Yorks 62 counties at least once annually.

Among them: Bronx County, where Hochul attended the local Democratic Partys unity celebration last week following Eric Adams win in the mayoral primary.

The 62-year-old Democrat, elected in 2014, made her presence known in a far bigger fashion this week when she declared Cuomos behavior, as outlined in James report, repulsive and called on him to step down.

As Cuomo mulls his next move and the state Assembly heads toward impeachment, Hochul is poised to make history as New Yorks first female governor and the first to come to Albany from north of Peekskill since Gov. Nathan Miller took office a century ago.

We are fortunate to have Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, who is ready to lead with integrity and continue building on the advancements that New York has made towards greater economic, racial and social justice, the New York State Nurses Association said in a statement Thursday, joining a growing line of political and labor leaders calling for Cuomos ouster.

Hochul would come into the top office after over five years of tirelessly zig zagging across a state of nearly 20 million people on Cuomos behalf, attending ribbon-cuttings and touting the executive offices achievements. She also helmed the governors Enough is Enough campaign against sexual violence on college campuses.

Now, as New Yorks potential next leader, Hochuls getting ready to endure scrutiny of a relatively modest public service record that might suggest political pragmatism to some or a penchant for chameleonism to others. Her fans say shes up to the job.

Shes a tough chick from Buffalo and I think shell be prepared, said State Sen. Diane Savino (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn). She certainly knows the issue that affects the state from the North Country to the South Bronx.

Before Hochul became the second lieutenant governor of Cuomos three terms, she amassed a history as a center-right Democrat.

In 1994, she was elected to her first political office joining the Hamburg Town Board after running on both the Democratic and Conservative ballot lines. She became Erie County clerk in 2007. And when she sought re-election three years later, she ran on four party lines: Democratic, Independence, Conservative and the Working Families Party.

In 2007, she fought then-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzers proposal to issue drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants. Hochul, then the Erie County clerk, teamed with another upstate county clerk and worked with law enforcement to formulate a plan to arrest undocumented immigrants who applied in their counties.

Her Democratic bona fides have been hip-checked several times since then.

In 2018, as actress and activist Cynthia Nixon ran for governor and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams sought the lieutenant governor slot, they pushed for drivers licenses for undocumented New Yorkers. Hochul, in a turnaround, tacitly gave her approval.

I think she probably reflects the politics of western New York, which tend to be similar to Staten Island: moderate in many respects, said Savino.

In 2011, Hochul ran her first congressional race and beat a Republican in a conservative district that had been held by the GOP since the 1960s. She won the congressional special election race by five percentage points likely helped by a Tea Party candidate who siphoned off Republican votes.

During her brief stint in the House of Representatives, Hochul campaigned heavily against a Republican plan to convert Medicare into a voucher program that could also be used in the private market.

In 2012, Republican Chris Collins, a former Erie County executive, challenged her re-election bid. The lines of her congressional district had been changed by Albany politicians, including a Republican-controlled State Senate. She lost her seat to Collins by 5,000 votes or a margin of 1.6 percentage points.

Shortly after leaving Congress, Buffalo-based M&T Bank Corporation hired her as vice president of government relations.

Her political comeback came in 2014, when Cuomos first lieutenant governor, former Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy, bowed out. Duffy said he couldnt keep up with the hectic travel schedule the job requires.

There was no such problem with Hochul: After her election, Cuomo began sending her across the state to highlight his pet projects and serve as his administrations main surrogate, bringing her to all corners of New York.

Visits to New York City may not be enough for Hochul to prove to downstate Democrats that shes the right candidate to potentially succeed Cuomo in a 2022 election, especially with local officials like Williams said to be considering a run.

Still, she has shown an ability to fundraise when needed, collecting and spending nearly $4.8 million in her two congressional runs. So far, her campaign has raised $1.9 million this cycle and has $1.7 million on hand.

While it appears increasingly likely that Hochul will succeed Cuomo, when or for how long are up in the air.

Under the state Constitution, she would become governor, at least temporarily, as soon as the state Assembly impeaches Cuomo, if he doesnt step down first.

Even if she makes history as the first female leader of the Empire State, she probably wont break the record for the shortest stint as New York governor: 29 days by Lt. Gov. Charles Poletti. In 1942, Poletti stepped in for Gov. Herbert Lehman, who left with less than a month in his term to accept a federal post during World War II.

Hochul was born the second of six children to Jack and Pat Courtney, who started their marriage living in a small trailer in Buffalo. Her father was a clerical worker at Bethlehem Steel, where he also was an union organizer. He eventually became president of an information technology company.

Hochul attended Syracuse University, where she boycotted a campus bookstore for high prices and tried to get the school to name their famous stadium, the Carrier Dome, after alumnus and NFL player Ernie Davis. She also rallied to get the university to divest from South Africa to help end aparthied.

After graduating from Catholic University with a law degree, Hochul worked at a Washington law firm. She later toiled on Capitol Hill as an attorney and legislative aide for then-Rep. John J. LaFalce and U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, both New York Democrats.

Hochul lives in Buffalo with her husband, William Hochul, a former U.S. Attorney for Western New York who now works as general counsel for Delaware North, a hospitality company. They have two adult children, William and Katie.

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Who is Kathy Hochul: On the Brink of Replacing Andrew Cuomo as NY Governor - THE CITY