‘New direction’: Delaware’s new governor calls for bold steps to meet state’s challenges in inauguration speech

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This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Democrat Matt Meyer and former state Sen. Kyle Evans Gay were sworn in as governor and lieutenant governor Tuesday morning before a large crowd in the William B. DeLauder Education and Humanities Theatre on the Delaware State University campus in Dover.

The ceremony was moved indoors amid dangerously cold temperatures. It was the first time in the state’s history a governor was inaugurated at a historically Black college.

Meyer is now the state’s 76th governor. He was previously New Castle County executive from 2017 to 2025. He took the oath before former governors, state lawmakers and community leaders, holding his squirming 11-month-old son Levi in his arms.

He succeeds Bethany Hall-Long, the former lieutenant governor who briefly held the job after former Gov. John Carney resigned two weeks early to become the mayor of Wilmington on Jan. 7. Both were term-limited in their previous roles. Meyer defeated Hall-Long in last year’s Democratic primary.

It’s often said Delaware is a state of neighbors, Meyer said. Where people are civil even when they disagree.

“At the same time, we cannot afford to shy away from speaking the truth, from taking a stand, from taking a bold step in a new direction,” he said. “That, I think, is what this moment demands.”

Meyer, a former public school math teacher, said schools, teachers and students have an ally in the governor’s office. He called the public school system in the First State one of the worst performing in the country.

“We can’t fulfill our potential unless we all have a chance to contribute. That will be my focus every day of these next four years,” he said. “Students aren’t failing; our schools are failing our students. As a teacher and as governor, I refuse to accept that. I refuse to write off any of our kids.”

Several protesters of the Israel-Hamas war interrupted Meyer’s speech as he began to speak, but were quickly escorted out by security officials.

Meyer promised to work with newly reelected President Donald Trump. But he received a standing ovation when he promised to fight policies that try “to take away your health care coverage, or further restrict your reproductive rights, or undermine our schools, or try to come into our communities to harass folks who came to our country, and our state, in search of a better life.”

The new governor addressed high prices and rising inequality and described housing and health care as human rights. He has previously expressed support for adding another income tax bracket for wealthier Delawareans.

Before she was elected to the state Senate, Gay was a deputy attorney general and a lawyer in private practice. But she said that being a mom motivated her to run for office.

“Becoming a new mom illuminated the challenges facing young families like mine across our state, and I was frustrated,” she said. “I was frustrated in my local representation for not prioritizing those challenges. Being a frustrated mom led me to become a member of the Senate, fighting alongside other changemakers. I am forever grateful that those raw emotions led to me being a part of something bigger than myself.”

Gay said Delawarans want leaders who listen, lift up diverse voices and who prioritize coalition building and collaboration.

“I challenge myself each day to be such a leader, and as a result, we have been able to do great things for Delaware,” she said.

Meyer won the September Democratic primary for governor over Hall-Long and former state environmental chief Collin O’Mara, then beat former Republican House Minority Leader Mike Ramone in last year’s general election. Meyer was also previously a small business owner and spent a year as a diplomat embedded with the United States Army in Iraq.

The new governor will hold an inauguration ball Tuesday night at the Queen Theater in Wilmington, featuring The Temptations and The Four Tops as well as the Urban Arts Orchestra. Tickets are $100, with proceeds going toward Meyer’s inauguration corporation, Delaware to the Future.