Governor-elect Wes Moore and lieutenant governor-elect Aruna Miller announced their commitment to an inclusive administration at the administration’s first press conference on Thursday.
Speaking at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, Moore announced Miller, a former delegate representing Montgomery County’s District 15 in the Maryland House of Delegates, as the chair of the Moore-Miller transition team.
The transition’s co-chairs are Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, Downtown Partnership in Baltimore President Shelonda Stokes, campaign treasurer Mary Tydings and former Howard County Executive Ken Ulman.
Cleo Hirsch, who led the COVID-19 response for Baltimore City public schools, is the executive director for the Moore-Miller transition.
“We want to be able to create a team that’s inclusive and reflective of the entire state,” Miller said.
Moore and Miller plan to spend the transition period working with residents to develop policies that will benefit all Marylanders, Miller said.
With the new administration, Moore and Miller will be responsible for filling a number of agency secretaries, like with the governor’s cabinet. The pair is open to looking for candidates outside of Maryland, Miller said.
“We’re going to look holistically,” Miller said. “We want to get the best and the brightest to be able to serve the people that are in Maryland.”
Moore emphasized his commitment to having a “21st century education system” for children.
This includes a service-year option for high school graduates. The first of its kind, this program would allow young people to spend a year on community service projects, the Washington Post previously reported.
“Our state can both be more competitive and be more equitable and it’s not a choice,” Moore said. “We’re going to do both. We mean that.”
Moore attributed his victory to the efforts of young people — both young voters and volunteers.
He said there’s room for students to join the transition team, asking for “active participation” in addition to thoughts and ideas.
“The reason that we are here is because it was young people who saw this campaign and who saw us before anybody else did,” he said. “We are going to make sure that the voices of young people are going to be heard.”
The newly-elected statewide offices represent milestones.
Moore will serve as Maryland’s first Black governor and Miller is the first South Asian woman elected as lieutenant governor in the country.
Comptroller-elect Brooke Lierman is the first woman elected to a statewide position in Maryland, and attorney general-elect Anthony Brown will be the first Black attorney general in Maryland.
Moore’s inauguration will take place Jan. 18.
Christine Zhu of Gaithersburg, a junior at the University of Maryland who is studying journalism and Spanish, was the Bethesda Beat summer 2022 intern.
