DOVER – Two weeks before Delaware’s new governor takes his oath of office, “an unemployed Matt Meyer,” as he put it, sat down for a fireside chat with Spotlight Delaware and a room full of Delawareans eager for news.
In a Delaware State University room crowded with nonprofit leaders and advocates, the governor-elect said his next four years in office will be based on the values he ran his campaign on alongside those of his new second-hand partner Lieutenant Governor-elect Kyle Evans Gay.
“It’s very humbling to have been elected governor. I was told at a conference of governors a few weeks ago that no one in the history of the country has gone in 10 years from being a public school educator to being a governor of a state,” Meyer said. He added that he and his team will be spending the next 10 or 11 days rolling up their sleeves in preparation for the work ahead.
Supporting the state’s children by addressing educational needs is top on his priority list, as well as health care and housing needs, noting that he has not chosen an education secretary yet but will have someone chosen for the role by his inauguration.
“I think it’s really important to me that our secretary of education be someone who has been an educator and has real interest in getting in there to do really hard things,” he said. “I think when you look at what’s happened here in Delaware. . . the trend lines, quite frankly, are not good. A lot of my peers do not want to send their kids to the neighborhood school. It’s not acceptable.”
But the ideas are there for improvement, Meyer said. During his administration, he will be looking for strategies that have “direct and serious impacts on not only educational outcomes that our kids get, but on the equity.”
Some ideas, however, leave Meyer more amused than waiting for actionable items, especially when people consider his less-than-traditional path to the top state seat. Delaware’s last governor to take office without a prior legislative history at the state level was Gov. Pete du Pont, who governed almost 50 years ago.
“People treat me like I moved here from Mars,” he joked.
It won’t hold him back, however, from the values-based work he has ahead of him as governor to support the state he calls home along with his wife and their new son while carrying on priorities that have worked in the recent past such as the state’s stabilization fund, or rainy day fund, with adjustments as necessary.
Other issues, like health care and housing will take more work by the new administration and its new cabinet members.
“More urgently, you can’t get a doctor,” Meyer said during the fireside chat with Spotlight Delaware Editor in Chief Jacob Owens. “I was elected as New Castle County executive as a pissed off teacher and now I was elected governor as a pissed off New Castle County executive. The problem is getting worse and worse and who’s going to stand up and fix it? I think the state government does have a critical role with housing, but also with health care.”
He suggested opening Delaware’s first medical school as well as ways to encourage more residences as one step toward a solution for the state’s medical provider shortage, naming just one of the lingering concerns.
“We’re going to protect people,” he added, mentioning immigration and resident safety, as well.
While Meyer waits to take office so he can get to work on the issues on which he was elected, he said he will enjoy his two weeks of unemployment in between his role as New Castle County executive and Delaware’s new governor by spending time with family.
The governor-elect will also be spending the next two weeks on tours of Dover, Newark and Cape Henlopen as well as several service events throughout the First State – the first of which was a home building event with Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County on Thursday morning. The nonprofit will be building a home and honoring the life of President Jimmy Carter, who was a partner with Habitat for Humanity for more than 30 years.
Soon after he finishes this initial tour around the state and takes on his new hot seat, Meyer will find himself in somewhat of a familiar position. This will be the second time he will serve in elected office as a democrat with President Donald Trump in the White House – and he said it was difficult the first time.
He expects nothing less this time.
“This is kind of a scary time for our country right now and we’re a part of that country. My job right now is to make sure that every kid is protected,” Meyer said.
Delaware’s next governor had the chance to attend a national conference for governors to discuss the ins and outs of that role and connect with other leaders. Meyer called it a helpful opportunity considering current federal politics.
“It’s interesting because I think maybe more than any other conference in the country right now, there’s a lot of excitement around governors right now and particularly in blue states. We’re going to have the opportunity to show how things work out right,” he said.
“I hope to the Lord every day that things work out in our country,” Meyer added.
