Kathy Hochul, the first Syracuse University graduate to serve as New York’s governor, plans to display her Orange pride today at the 2026 State of the State address.
Hochul asked the SU marching band to kick off her speech at 1 p.m. with a performance in front of 1,000 elected officials and guests at Hart Theater in Empire State Plaza in Albany.
The governor said she invited the nationally recognized band to set the tone for her address by performing their New York Medley.
An SU spokesman said about 50 members of the band plan to march into the theater and play “On Broadway,” “New York, New York” and “I Love New York.”
The marching band also plans to perform the SU fight song, “Down the Field.”
Hochul, 67, served as vice president of the SU student government in 1979 when she emerged as an activist. She led a group that pushed to name the school’s new stadium after Ernie Davis, the SU football legend who was the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy.
Carrier Corp. had provided the domed stadium’s naming gift and planned to call it the Carrier Dome.
Hochul, the former Kathy Courtney, tried to convince Carrier’s top executive to name the domed stadium after Davis. The effort failed but SU later named the football field after Davis.
Hochul said she never forgot the political lessons she learned outside the classroom at SU, where she successfully fought for lower prices at the campus bookstore and changes to student meal plans before graduating in 1980.
“Being a student at Syracuse University helped shape my political activism that still guides me to this day,” Hochul said in a statement today, “and I look forward to unveiling my plan to continue making New York more affordable and safer for all.“