DOVER – As Delaware dug itself out from a snowstorm that covered the state, its 75th governor was sworn into office at the Old State House in Dover on Tuesday.
Governor Dr. Bethany Hall-Long was elected as the state’s lieutenant governor in 2016 after serving in the General Assembly for 15 years and a nurse and educator even before her legislative work.
She honored her own roots during her swearing in ceremony, looking back at Delaware’s history with pride, as well as that of her own and the late former Governor Ruth Ann Minner.
“It is really special when you think about the history that’s been here,” Hall-Long said during her speech after being sworn in. “It truly does take a village and you think about community, you know, I definitely think wholeheartedly about the first woman governor [Ruth Ann Minner]. She, like me, could be on a tractor or on a combine. Governor Minner, the first woman governor and I get to be the second – two Sussex [County] farm girls.”
Gov. John Carney resigned from the office, as he will be sworn in as Wilmington’s next mayor on Tuesday night. As Gov.-elect Matt Meyer will be inaugurated on Jan. 21, Hall-Long will serve for 15 days.
In her speech before a packed crowd, including the members of the state legislature, she showcased the trials Delaware’s ancestors, along with her own, faced in supporting residents through legislature, as well as the lessons learned.
“The thing that I’ve learned about in history is that it sometimes repeats itself. But I can say to you today wholeheartedly is that I channel the roots that I come with. . . You know what you learn growing up on a farm? You show up every day, you work really hard, you got to do whatever you have to do no matter the hours. . . and you what the bottom line is? You care deeply about one another, and you have one another’s backs and that’s what Delaware has been about,” she said.
It’s that legacy that she hopes to bring to her two weeks in office as Delaware’s 75th governor, she added, while focusing on a few key topics during her short tenure such as vulnerable populations. Hall-Long took the opportunity to announce a few new initiatives, such as a behavioral health expansion and a review of the nurses bill of rights, as well as a foster care initiative with ambassadors with the state’s new governor named as the first foster care ambassador.
“During the two weeks, you know, you give a nurse a job and she, or he, gets it done and we’re going to get some things, yes, done and accomplished,” she said proudly.
