announcer: vice president jd vance is scheduled to give remarks on thursday at the conservative political action conference, or cpac. watch live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span c-span now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-span.org. ♪ announcer: democracy. it isn't just an idea, it's a process. a process shaped by leaders elected to the highest office, and entrusted to a select few with guarding its select

principles. it is where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nation's course is charted. democracy in real-time. this is your government at work. this is c-span. giving you your democracy, unfiltered. ♪ soon after delaware governor matt meyer was sworn in by the state's chief justice, he gave his inaugural address. here he calls of state lawmakers to boost support for public schools, work to bring doctors to the state, and change current policies to attract new business. he is the 76th person to hold delaware's executive office.

>> please state your name. >> i, matthew meyer. >> do probably swear. >> to carry out their responsibilities. >> to carry out the responsibilities. >> of the office of governor. >> of the office of governor. >> to the best of my ability. >> to the best of my ability. >> freely acknowledging that the powers of this office. >> freely acknowledging that the powers of this office. >> flow from the people i am privileged to represent. >> i am privileged to represent. >> i further swear always to place. >> always to place. >> the public interest. >> the public interest. >> about any special or personal interest. >> above any special or personal interest. [laughter]

>> and to respect the right of future generations. >> to share the rich, historic and natural heritage of delaware. >> to share the rich, historic, and natural heritage of delaware. [laughter] in doing so, -- [laughter] >> in doing so. [laughter] >> there we go. >> awwww! [applause] >> in doing so. >> in doing so. >> i will always uphold and defend. >> i will always uphold and defend. >> the constitutions of my country and my state. >> the constitutions of my country and my state. >> [indistinct shouting] >> so help me god. >> so help me god. >> congratulations.

>> thank you. [cheers and applause] all yours. >> thank you very much. [cheers and applause] gov. meyer: thank you. thank you very much.

thank you. sit down. we haven't done anything yet. [laughter] good morning, everyone. good morning delaware! thank you so much for being here . the original plan was for me to give this outside. the original plan was for me to give this outside. [indistinct protestor shouts] [crowd cheering] [laughter] it's funny how cold weather can bring people together. so about a week ago as the temperature in the forecast was dropping, so was the length of this speech. it was getting shorter and

shorter. so we decided to move it inside. so all i can tell you is sit back and get comfortable. [applause] we believe this is the first time in american history that in governor, any governor in our country has been sworn into office in a historically black college or university. [cheers and applause] i want to give a big thank you to dr. allen and the great leadership here at delaware state university for hosting us. [applause] let us all work together today and in future days, to be worthy of this moment. so it is not merely a footnote of history, but a day that we point to. just 10 years ago i was teaching sixth grade math on the east side of wilmington. it was hard. it was very hard.

all i wanted to do was stand and deliver. i stood, and too often, we did not deliver. i believed our students deserved more. i believed our teachers deserved more. recently returned from 12 months as a diplomat embedded with the u.s. army in mosul, iraq, i had -- let's hear it for the army. [applause] some veterans in the crowd. after those 12 months teaching, i felt like i had learned more about america than many of my teacher colleagues. i thought bigger about the promise of our country and of our kids. and i knew that we here in delaware could do so much better. we had an obligation to the next generation. i started a journey then, alone journey based on a basic belief , a that we can do much better. our kids and their families deserve so much better.

this journey started with just me in the classroom. moments ago, i took an oath of office for this journey to be about all of us. about you, and about us doing better by our kids. doing better by all of our friends and neighbors, left out and forgotten by a school system that does not effectively educate, and an economy that fails to deliver on their promise of an america. a delaware that fails to deliver for too many of us. for too many of our friends and neighbors. thank you for coming and thank you also to the folks from sussex county, kent county, new castle co., around our state who are tuning in today online. i am excited and grateful to stand before you as your 76th governor. [applause]

i ran for governor because i love the state, but not only that, because i believed in this state. but not only that, i ran for governor because i am determined to get to work to help our government work better and deliver more. you, the people of delaware have given me that chance and it is the greatest honor of my life to work with you, to build on the acts and ideas of leaders who came before me. i want to thank the former governors, hall-long and john carney for their service to our state. i look forward to working with mayor carney in wilmington. my hometown. [applause] i also want to recognize two extraordinary governors who are here with us today starting with jack martel. jack, it was a tremendous privilege to be part of your team when you were governor. i listened and i learned. tried not to talk too much. and i couldn't have asked for a

better mentor. thank you and carla for being there for lauren and me. and welcome home, mr. ambassador. [applause] i'm grateful that tom carper is here as well: treasurer, -- with martha. as tom said to me, what else was i going to do? [laughter] a treasurer, congressman, governor, senator, the last vietnam veteran to serve in the u.s. senate. [applause] no one in our state, no one in our history has won more statewide elections than tom carper, and in every one of these roles, he is left big shoes to fill. [applause]

senator carper, you probably don't remember this, but i taught a seventh grader named brian. he came to school one day as static. he had just started a new school baseball team and brian was a star. his mentor had told them he was buying uniforms for the whole team. which caused exuberance not just for brian in our classroom, but across school. his mentor's name was tom carper. [applause] i also want to thank one of the most dedicated public servants in delaware's history. i want to thank him for his lifelong commitment to uplifting the people of our state, our country, and the world. i want to thank him for repeatedly coming to my high school as a senator and helping to plant the seeds of service that landed me here today. he has set a standard of service to which all of us should aspire. i'm speaking, of course, about

president joe biden. [applause] with deep appreciation and a lower pride, we take up your call to put service above self. that goes for me and our new lieutenant governor. kyle, i cannot tell you how excited i am to have you as a partner. let me also take a moment to thank the heroes in my own life, my parents who moved our family to delaware when i was a kid and gave me the foundation of values i bring to my work and to my life. a shout out to my sister allie and jeremy, who tortured me along the way, and my

sister-in-law becky as well. i want to thank my wife lauren and our 11 month old son levi. lauren, thank you for being my moral compass, the brains behind our operation, and my best friend. [applause] i know there have been a few discussions since election day. governors do still need to take out the trash. levi is truly -- where did levi go? he is truly the m.v.p. of the 2020 for election. what you don't know is there's no way we would have won the election without levi giving us a solid, uninterrupted 11 hours of sleep every night during the campaign. it's no joke. my wife is a master sergeant of sleep. and to the best big brothers, wyatt and owen, how about a math

question? you ready? how can 10 plus 10 and 11 plus 11 equal the same thing? that's right. 10 plus 10 equals 20 and 11 plus 11 equals 22. you didn't have that on your bingo card, did you? math questions? i'm incredibly proud to call delaware my home. delaware instilled in me a deep sense of purpose, and understanding of right and wrong, a belief in hard work. delaware is my community, my family, my land of possibility. it is often said we are a state of neighbors. we are close knit here. you have to be. we are only 96 miles north to south. we like it that way.

it shapes the way we interact. we value compromise, decency. we hear each other out even when we disagree. we pulled together when things are tough. we bury the hatchet. down in georgetown, sometimes literally. civility is a word you don't hear much these days when you watch national news, but in delaware, civility is alive and well. at the same time, we cannot shy away from speaking truth, from taking a stand, from taking a bold step in the new direction, and that, i think, is what this moment demands. in delaware and across our country, we feel unsettled in these tumultuous times. essentials still cost too much and wages for too many are not keeping pace. our schools are not preparing our kids like they should. inequalities are becoming more extreme. it's not just the volume of

change that's got people concerned. it's the direction those changes button to take us. that's true if we are talking about our economy, our climate, our -- or our politics. the winds of change hit washington yesterday, as we know. let me say this about the new president -- i will work with anyone of any party who is ready to advance the best interests of the people of delaware. [applause] but i also want to make this absolutely clear -- if the president or his administration or anyone 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 those who came into our country and our state in search of a better life , if they do these things, i will use every power you vested

in me as governor to protect our residents, to protect our livelihoods, to protect our values. that is my pledge to you. [cheers and applause] but today, i extend a hand in the spirit of partnership. now is not the time to settle scores for score political points. we have a job to do. for the people who sent us here, for all of you. if we get that job done and get it done right, the opportunities before us are incredible. we live, as i said, in tumultuous times, but also times of amazing innovation. biomedicine is discovering new ways to improve and extend our

lives. technology is getting smarter, making us more efficient and more effective in our jobs and daily lives. delaware can and should be leading these transformations. we have one of the highest numbers of phd's per capita in america, but we also have one of the five worst performing public school systems in america. delaware, we cannot fulfill our potential unless we all have a chance to contribute. that will be my focus every day of these next four years. students are not failing. our schools are failing our students. [applause] as a teacher and as a governor, i refuse to accept and i refuse to write off any of our children -- not one of them. because i have seen what they can do when they are given a

chance. that's why right after this, i will be signing our first executive order to create and expand job opportunities so students can learn and earn at the same time. [applause] it was 10 years ago right off northeast boulevard on thatcher street in wilmington -- i remember one math class. no matter what i did, i could not get the students engaged in the subject. i could not get them to care how you calculate the slope of a line. as i'm sure you all know, it is rise over run -- you divide the rise by the run. but i remember that day, my strategy was failing. i arranged for the kids to get hand -- hands-on and taught them how to code, basic programming tasks. suddenly, every student was not

just engaged but thriving. suddenly, they could see why math mattered, how it animates the world around them, how it might shape their future careers. for many of my seventh grade students, this was more than an engaging math class. it was a pathway to success. teachers live for moments like that. i know i do. but as i have also experienced, there was a lot of struggle. you never really get the resources you need in order to do right by our kids. you do what you can with what little you have. i have seen teachers make a lot of sacrifices to do heroic work. they need support and that's the promise i am making today. [applause] i have shared many of my plans for reform. many of them are pretty long. maybe a couple of people here read them. mom. [laughter]

we will be discussing more details of those plans in the coming weeks and months, but for now, let me say to delaware schools, teachers, and students, you all have an ally in the governor's office. of course, schools are only as strong as their communities, and we know many of our communities are under strain. it should not be this hard to afford to purchase a home or just pay the rent. housing is a human right. [applause] so we are not going to rest until every delaware again -- delawarean has access to safe, stable housing. health care, too, is a right, but they health care system often treats us as less than human. as many of you know, my wife is an emergency room doctor. give a round of applause. [applause] dr. lauren comes home with stories, lots of stories, of

doctors and nurses and physicians assistants and other health care professionals doing selfless and heroic work, but patients are suffering. here in delaware, even dying during the long wait at the emergency room. delawareans are being denied coverage for essential health care. delawareans driving to baltimore and d.c. to get the basic care they need. delaware is not alone, but that does not mean we have to accept this. if washington moves backwards or downwards, we are not going with them. [applause] in delaware, we move forward. i'm going to work every day to make health care in delaware more affordable, more accessible, more reliable, and more innovative, which brings me back to innovation. we are proud of our reputation

as a home of thriving business, but we can do even better. starting a business is really hard. i know from experience. we want delaware to be a state where all businesses, if you are a fortune 500 company or mom-and-pop shop, can prosper. where a person with an old idea can build a business, create great jobs and build the economy in a state we call home. some see our size is a disadvantage. i disagree. i think small can be a superpower. we can be nimble. we can take measured risk and experiment. i want to take advantage of our smallness to create true greatness. i want us to be a model for what any state can achieve at a time when nearly half of our country is turning on the tv and then turning it off, wondering what future there is for america. we right here can come together and realize the promise of an america that truly does work for everyone. i want to first state to

describe our future, not just our proud past. i'm confident we together can do these things. when i travel across the state, i ask, how can i help? what can i do to make things better? that's a question i want all of us to ask. what can we do together to make things work? it's going to take more than one lieutenant governor to make this happen. you and i are in this together. i often think about my time in iraq. i was not a soldier. i was a diplomatic. i will never forget being on the move with 15 u.s. soldiers when our vehicle broke down. it was about 120° outside in what was then the most dangerous region of what was then the most dangerous country in the world. none of us knew what would happen next, but all of us knew

we were in it together. [applause] whatever differences we had dissolved in that moment, differences of religion, race, income, education -- none of it mattered sitting on the side of the road. we got home safe. i feel lucky and i carry that lesson with me every day. yes, we have differences -- serious, real differences that sometimes run deep, but we share a mission. that mission, as i see it, is to show you every day that government can deliver, that democracy can deliver, that the votes those delegates took in 1787 was a smart bit when they created our country, a vote of confidence in all of us.

they believe that whatever challenges their estates and our nation faced, we would rise to those challenges. let's be worthy of their belief in us. there are too many sixth and seventh grade teachers out there , too many parents of public school students who simply do not see that promise of america, that promise of delaware. let us rise to the challenges. let us work better and deliver more and let us build a future even better than our past. that future starts now. thank you. god bless the great state of delaware and god bless our country. [applause] >> all this week, watch c-span's "new members of congress" series where we speak with republicans and democrats about their early lives, previous careers,

families, and why they decided to run for office. tonight at 9:30 p.m. eastern, our interviews include eugene vindman who was born in ukraine, served as a u.s. army officer, and played a role in the story of his brother who came to national attention in 2019 for testimony before congress on president trump's relationship with ukraine. >> i was lt. col. assigned to the white house on a detailed, deputy lead advisor on council staff. i worked right across the hall from my twin brother. he had the portfolio of russia and ukraine, belarus, moldova. he listened to the phone call. he heard the president's attempt at extortion, and he reported directly to me. >> watch "new members of congress" all this week starting

at 9:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> vice president jd vance is scheduled to give remarks on thursday at the conservative political action conference or cpac. watch live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now our free mobile video app, or online at c-span.org. ♪ >> democracy will always be the greatest creation. >> democracy belongs to us all. >> we are here in the sanctuary of democracy. >> responsibilities fall once again to the great democracies. >> american democracy is bigger than any one person. >> freedom and democracy must be constantly guarded and protected. >> we are still at our core democracy.