ALBANY — In just 18 days, Kathy Hochul has gone from being sworn in as the first woman elected governor of New York — to making the wrong kind of history.

Political disaster arrived Wednesday when she became the first governor in state history to have a judicial nomination voted down by the state Senate, after its newly-packed Judiciary Committee rejected Hector LaSalle to lead New York’s highest court.

“This is a very big deal,” three-term Republican Gov. George Pataki told The Post. “It’s a question of who we have running the state – the governor or radical leftists in the legislature.”

The embattled Hochul has claimed that the state Constitution requires the full Senate to consider the controversial nomination despite opposition from progressive legislators, unions and criminal justice reformers.

Senate Democrats say the 10-9 committee vote is the end of the road for LaSalle and Hochul’s bid to make him the first Latino to lead New York’s judiciary, setting the stage for a fight in the courts.

“The committee has spoken. The nomination was lost. I’m hoping we can move forward,” state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers), who OK’d expanding the committee with three more Democrats and one Republican, told reporters.

A now hamstrung Hochul, who was left to rely on Republicans to try and get LaSalle through the committee, blasted fellow Democrats for holding what she said was an unfair forum where “the outcome was predetermined” amid fierce opposition from unions and criminal justice reformers.

Hochul’s only recourse now appears to be to sue the state Senate to try and force a full chamber vote on LaSalle. The Buffalo News reported Wednesday that she has retained counsel to weigh that move.

“Several Senators stated how they were going to vote before the hearing even began – including those who were recently given seats on the newly expanded Judiciary Committee. While the Committee plays a role, we believe the Constitution requires action by the full Senate,” Hochul said.

Former Democratic Gov. David Paterson said the fight over LaSalle is “bigger than Hochul” because allowing the Senate to reject a judge without a floor vote will impact future governors. 

He endorsed the idea of challenging Senate Democrats in court by saying “she has a legal case” to make, though he added that the committee rejection is “bad’ for Hochul from a political standpoint. 

“It’s worse if she leaves it alone and moves on. The LaSalle nomination is bigger than Kathy Hochul,” he added. 

LaSalle received the support of all six Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, as well Democratic state Sens. Luis Sepúlveda, Kevin Thomas and Jamaal Bailey.

“The nomination is lost,” Senate Judiciary Chair Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan), who voted against LaSalle, said after the vote.

But it remains theoretically possible that LaSalle could get confirmed with a bipartisan majority of the 63-seat Senate if enough Democrats joined the 21-member Republican minority in voting in his favor if his nomination still somehow got to the chamber floor. 

The hearing marked the first time that LaSalle has publicly defended his record following weeks of attacks by progressives who want a left-leaning jurist to take the relatively moderate Court of Appeals in a new direction.

“Judges’ decision-making is based on the facts and the law and how you feel personally about a party or issue before us is not germane,” the longtime jurist told members of the state Senate Judiciary Committee.

Hoylman-Sigal got fact-checked early on by LaSalle, who cited two cases where he sided with criminal defendants on civil rights issues after the Manhattan Democrat claimed an analysis of 33 past decisions proved he was too friendly to prosecutors.

“Your statement is inaccurate just on that alone,” LaSalle said.

Hoylman-Sigal also hit LaSalle over a purported “alliance” with ex-Chief Judge Janet DiFiore – who resigned last summer amid scandal – a past donation to the state Conservative Party and past campaigns for Supreme Court judge where LaSalle ran on the Conservative Party line.

“You do know about the Conservative Party agenda? It includes, just a refresher, it opposes a woman’s right to control her own body, opposes the equal rights of LGBTQ New Yorkers, opposes any attempt to implement common-sense gun violence prevention measures. Do you consider those to be mainstream values?” Hoylman-Sigal thundered.

LaSalle noted that he also ran with the nominations of the Democratic, Republican, Independence and Working Families parties, a common practice in judicial elections statewide.

LaSalle also pivoted to a stance that he would maintain through the hours of grilling.

“Judges make decisions on the law,” he said.

He similarly pushed back at a question from state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens), who has already said she will vote against his nomination, over a case where he ruled against the idea that work safety rules cover workers’ children when they might get exposed to toxic materials that parents encountered on the job.

“I read statutes as they’re written,” LaSalle said before adding that the Legislature could pass bills that might change how judges rule on such issues in the future.

Some progressives nonetheless continued to press him on past decisions where LaSalle says he stuck to the letter of the law alongside precedents.

This included a controversial case where LaSalle joined other appellate judges in ruling that a prosecutor who removed jurors over their darker skin colors did not technically break the law.

“We relied on [precedent],” he said in response to a question from state Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky, who ended up voting no.

LaSalle added that he welcomed how the Court of Appeals eventually overturned that decision to establish new precedent.

“No one should be excluded from a jury because of immutable characteristics. And I applaud [the Court of Appeals decision] which was the first time any court in this country has indicated skin color is a group that needs to be protected,” he said.

Some political observers, including former Govs. George Pataki and David Paterson, have said that losing the LaSalle fight would deal Hochul a crushing blow just weeks into her four-year term in office. 

Rejection by the Judiciary Committee is one more sign that the political left has gained the upper hand against Hochul as new fights loom over the state budget and changing controversial limits on cash bail. 

“This fight was fundamentally about a question of power, and in botching this nomination, Hochul showed she doesn’t wield any,” Melissa DeRosa, a political consultant and former secretary to the governor under disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, told The Post.

“The legislature wanted a weak governor and they got one,” DeRosa added.