It was all-in on opportunity. All about affordability. And on point on history.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s first speech since assuming the role was clearly her best-ever: Tough on Trump, heavy on humor and filled with enough personal narrative to make the overflow crowd at the N.J. Performing Arts Center in Newark wonder why she only won the election by two touchdowns.
Sherrill even fulfilled her biggest campaign promise, signing two executive orders intended to address surging energy costs.
Affordability, accountability, opportunity and a sense of history carried the 30-minute speech.
“I have heard — beneath the noise, beneath the politics — a simple truth,” she said.
“Too many people are working too hard and still falling behind. They worry about rent or mortgage payments that rise faster than paychecks.
“They worry about the cost of childcare that rivals college tuition.
“They worry about utility and health care bills that feel unpredictable and overwhelming.
“They worry about whether their children will be able to build a life in this state.
“These concerns are not abstract. They are not ideological. They are an everyday reality for the people of this state.
“So, let me tell you plainly what my administration stands for:
“Lowering costs. Taking care of our kids. Making government accountable to the people.”
Government accountability was sprinkled throughout the speech — that is, holding President Trump accountable.
Sherrill, ever the student of history, spelled out how the grievances in the Declaration of Independence against the King of England were similar to beefs many have with Trump.
“This election proved that the people of New Jersey recognize the parallels,” she said. “That we see a president illegally usurping power. He has unconstitutionally enacted a tariff regime to make billions for himself and his family, while everyone else sees costs go higher and higher. Here, we demand people in public service actually serve the public instead of extorting money to benefit themselves and their cronies.
“On Nov. 4, the people of New Jersey once again gave the nation a glimmer of something it hadn’t felt in months: Hope. Yes, 250 years after the Declaration, 250 years after General Washington crossed the Delaware into the promised land, I am proud that once again, New Jersey is leading the way.”
Sherrill showed many touches of humor throughout, but she made it clear she is ready for a fight. Or unwilling to back down from one.
History guides her, she said.
“I am going to spend every minute trying to make New Jersey more affordable and open doors to opportunity across our state,” she said.
“That’s our history here, opening doors to opportunity. Patriots who manned Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad stops from Cape May to Jersey City; Labor leaders like Peter McGuire who spurred the fight for fair wages and good working conditions; Alice Paul who fought for equal rights including a women’s right to vote, and Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who fled Nazi occupation and came to Newark, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, and reminded us that “the most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.”
“Not here. Not New Jersey. These are some weary years. But I’ll be damned if in this state, at this time, we cry any silent tears.
“We refuse to be silent as doors are shut on too many of our friends and neighbors. Too many children and seniors who don’t have enough to eat, people who work too hard and still can’t get ahead, communities living in fear, children who are afraid that their parents will disappear in an ICE raid while they are at school.
“As we see Washington trying to shut the door on opportunity, on your safety and security, on education, on health care, on access to good jobs, on innovation, and investments in energy and infrastructure, as we are seeing doors shut for families, for working people, for vulnerable communities, as they attempt to roll back the tide of progress — not here.
“We are made of stronger stuff here.”
New Jersey, Sherrill said, has been since its first days.
“At the dawn of our nation, as some of our very first public servants embarked upon their work to better New Jersey, the people of New Jersey chose a state motto,” she explained. “On the heels of a horrible war, they narrowed in on those two things that they felt their countrymen had fought and died for: Liberty and Prosperity.
“Today, I take up their work once again. Protecting liberty, ensuring that power is not placed in the hands of a few, but rather that the universal rights of all New Jerseyans are protected.
“And prosperity, through opening the door to opportunity.
“That is my commitment to you as your 57th governor.”
