2024 Vision Coalition Gubernatorial Forum on Education

Bethany Hall-Long Democrat for Governor

Dr. Bethany Hall-Long has served as Delaware’s 26th Lieutenant Governor since 2017. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served in the Delaware House of Representatives from 2002-2008 and in the Delaware Senate from 2008-2017. Bethany was born and raised in Sussex County on her family farm with her two older brothers. She graduated from Indian River High School where she met her Husband Dana, who served in the U.S. Navy for nine years. Later, she earned a BSN from Thomas Jefferson University, an MSN from the Medical University of South Carolina, and a PhD in health policy and nursing administration from George Mason University. As a lifelong nurse and research scientist, Dr. Hall-Long has dedicated her medical career to addressing health inequities and expanding treatment options and access for mental healthcare in Delaware. She has been nationally recognized for her research and community service record with at-risk groups such as pregnant teens, diabetics, the homeless, and people facing mental health challenges and substance use disorder.

Matt Meyer Democrat for Governor

In 2016, Matt Meyer was a sixth and seventh grade Math teacher when he first ran for public office, defeating a heavily-favored three-term incumbent in a grassroots campaign to serve as the Chief Executive of Delaware’s largest county. In 2020, when COVID-19 threatened the health and safety of Delawareans, Meyer led the county government in taking unprecedented and innovative actions to keep residents safe from the virus, to protect the most vulnerable in our community and to plant the seeds for a strong and fast economic recovery. Meyer led efforts that resulted in Delaware being the first state in the country to offer open, free COVID-19 saliva tests, having provided nearly 300,000 tests to date. New Castle County monitored sewers to identify COVID-19 hotspots quickly and implemented programs to get high speed wifi access to the hardest to reach communities. In two weeks, New Castle County created the largest full-service homeless shelter in state history, converting a 192 room three star hotel into the NCC Hope Center. The Hope Center today provides dignity and comprehensive services to the most vulnerable Delawareans. In collaboration with New Castle County, entrepreneurs established the Delaware Data Innovation Lab to provide quality data analysis to the state’s most urgent COVID-related problems and Delaware State University established a state-of-the-art next generation lab to do COVID testing faster and at a fraction of the cost of most existing providers. Upon assuming office four years ago, Meyer immediately took historic steps to deliver honest, transparent and efficient governance to the over 560,000 New Castle County residents. The Meyer Administration eliminated wasteful spending and streamlined government expenditures, creating a rapid response JobsNow program that facilitated development projects with over 12,000 jobs. He launched NCC innovates, the most extensive effort to start and grow small business in county history and created GreeNCC, an ambitious agenda to address climate change, preserve open space, bikeable-walkable trails and clean water. His Vacant Spaces to Livable Places initiative rapidly reduced the number of vacant delinquent residential properties by more than 30% while generating millions of dollars of new revenue for schools. Meyer and his staff also created a high school course on local democracy and public leadership that Meyer and his team taught at two New Castle County high schools, Freire and Newark High School. Meyer has the most ethnically diverse senior staff of any government in state history, including the first African American woman to be Chief Administrative Officer in county history and the first African American Police Chief. His community policing initiatives, Hero Help and the Police Mental Health Alliance, have diverted over 500 individuals facing substance abuse and mental illness from incarceration into treatment. Mr. Meyer is a graduate of Brown University and University of Michigan Law School. He grew up in Cardiff, off Shipley Road, attended Brandywine School Districts schools and graduated from Wilmington Friends School. Prior to becoming County Executive, Mr. Meyer worked as a math teacher, a diplomat in Iraq, an economic advisor to Delaware Governor Jack Markell and started two successful businesses. He has worked as an attorney at the New York law firm of Simpson Thacher, at the Potomac Law Group and as a Skadden Arps Fellow at Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. in Delaware. In his free time, Meyer likes to ride his bike and repeatedly watch Super Bowl 52.

Collin O’Mara Democrat for Governor

Collin O’Mara serves as President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, America’s largest wildlife conservation organization with 52 state and territorial affiliates and nearly six million hunters, anglers, birders, gardeners, hikers, paddlers, and wildlife enthusiasts. Under O’Mara’s leadership, the National Wildlife Federation is focused on recovering America’s wildlife ranging from bison and bighorn sheep to pollinators like monarch butterflies and native bees, improving management of and access to public lands, restoring America’s water bodies, advancing environmental education (including publishing Ranger Rick® magazines), and connecting every American child with the great outdoors. O’Mara serves on the Hunting and Shooting Sports Conservation Council, is a professional member of the Boone & Crockett Club, and represents the National Wildlife Federation as a member of the American Wildlife Conservation Partners and the Blue Green Alliance. In 2015, O’Mara was named Bass Pro Shop’s Conservation Partner of the Year. He is regularly called before Congress to testify about wildlife, water, and sportsmen issues. Prior to the National Wildlife Federation, O’Mara led the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control as Cabinet Secretary from 2009 through 2014. In that position, Secretary O’Mara served as the state’s top natural resource official, and led the state’s efforts to conserve and restore wildlife and fishery habitat, improve air quality and public health, ensure access to clean water, expand outdoor recreation and environmental education opportunities, and enhance the state’s resilience to extreme weather and other climate impacts. When O’Mara was appointed in 2009, he was the youngest state cabinet official in the nation. He spearheaded a range of initiatives, including Delaware’s “No Child Left Inside”/ Children In Nature campaign, a comprehensive strategy to introduce children to the outdoors; the First State Trails and Pathways Plan, a multi-year initiative to expand and connect the state’s trail system; and the Delaware Bayshore Initiative, an effort to establish the region as a world-class conservation and outdoor recreation destination for hunting, birding, fishing, hiking, canoeing, and kayaking. His previous board service includes a term as Co-Chair of the Natural Resources and Agriculture Subcommittee of the President’s Task Force on Climate Adaptation and Preparedness, Chair of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Chair of the Ozone Transport Commission, Chair of the Climate and Energy Subcommittee of the Environmental Council of the States, and the Executive Council of the Chesapeake Bay Program. A native of Syracuse, New York, O’Mara was a Marshall Scholar at the University of Oxford, a University Fellow at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and a Presidential Scholar at Dartmouth College. He is a Catto Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a U.S. Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accredited professional, and completed Stanford Business School’s Executive Management Program in Environmental Sustainability. O’Mara lives in Delaware and spends every possible moment in nature fishing, hunting, hiking, and birding with his wife Krishanti and daughters Riley and Alana.

Jerry Price Republican for Governor

Mike Ramone