Meyer: ‘Fed up but not giving up’
Matt Meyer is the New Castle County executive and a Democratic candidate for governor.
I ran for office because I was fed up.
I taught middle school math in downtown Wilmington. Some of the children I taught came to school hungry. Some woke each morning to unimaginable instability at home. They had witnessed gun and domestic violence, even at a young age.
But you don’t become a teacher because you’re a pessimist. I became a teacher because I’m an optimist. You believe you can make a difference. You see education as the best way to get ahead. You work hard to give your students hope and the skills to have a brighter future.
I loved teaching, but I wanted to do even more to help the students I cared about. Being fed up never meant I was going to give up. I decided to run for office to fix broken systems, stand up to politicians who served themselves instead of their constituents and fight for greater equality in government services and programs.
So, in 2016, I ran for New Castle County executive. In the primary, I ran against a heavily favored three-term incumbent. I won the general election with 66% of the vote.
Since I have been the leader of the largest local government in Delaware, we have made historic investments in education, decreased gun violence by nearly 50% and created 13,000 jobs through a Jobs Now program we developed. Within my first six months, we posted the county’s checkbook online so that taxpayers knew where their money was going.
I am proud of the results and progress we have delivered for New Castle County’s nearly 600,000 residents. I have stood up to those who told me that new, innovative ideas wouldn’t work. I have chosen to do what’s right over bowing down to special interests.
Over the past eight years, my team has efficiently managed over $2 billion in taxpayer money. When there was a surplus, we returned money to taxpayers. Despite elected officials telling me not to, we worked to create the New Castle County Hope Center, the largest full-service homeless shelter in state history. It has helped over 4,100 of our most vulnerable neighbors, including assisting nearly 500 Delaware families to obtain permanent, stable housing. Our community policing initiatives and the first police behavioral health unit in Delaware have diverted more than 500 individuals facing substance abuse and mental illness from incarceration into treatment.
Now, I am running for governor to improve our state’s schools, make our communities safer and lead a transparent and accountable state government that puts public service over self-service. As governor, I will make sure that government investments are tied to results and real outcomes.
We must do all we possibly can to make Delaware’s future bright. But we cannot just focus on the future. We need to make Delaware better now, with a sense of urgency, innovation and ethical purpose.
My wife, Lauren Meyer, is an emergency room doctor and practices these values every day while serving Delawareans. We should do the same in state government. Delaware’s underperforming education system, public safety problems, housing crisis and susceptibility to the damaging effects of climate change should be treated with the same sense of urgency as the medical emergencies she treats.
As governor, I will:
- Make historic investments in our education system and change the funding system to improve educational disparities and increase opportunities
- Fight to end the gun violence epidemic, reduce crime through the adoption of additional technologies and develop collaborations between agencies and service providers
- Expand access to housing that is affordable and lower the cost of living, so working families can finally get ahead
- Improve the quality, affordability and accessibility of our health care system by reducing wait times and limiting costs
- Enshrine reproductive care in the state’s constitution
- Ensure an inclusive state for the LGBTQ+ community
- Fight for a cleaner, greener Delaware through green jobs and infrastructure
- Make sure Kent and Sussex counties have equitable seats at the table and get their fair share of services and infrastructure investment
- Return faith to Delawareans through a transparent and ethical government
I am committed to making our schools better, our economies stronger and our neighborhoods safer. We will create a more transparent, honest and effective state government, which truly delivers for our working families. The best indicator of future outcomes is past actions, and I am ready to deliver results statewide.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
