A pragmatist in partisan times: Ralph Northam becomes Virginias 73rd governor
Ralph Shearer Northam took the oath of office Saturday as Virginias 73rd governor, invoking the states complex history of both slavery and patriotic leadership to call for a new Virginia way forward.
This unique heritage endows us with a responsibility to shape the future, to leave this place better than we found it, said Northam, a 58-year-old Democrat.
A former state senator and lieutenant governor, Northam succeeds his friend and benefactor, Terry McAuliffe, after leading a wave election last fall in which Democrats made dramatic gains in the state legislature.
Although his win was powered by Democratic resistance to President Trump, Northam issued a call for civility before some 4,000 guests gathered in the cold outside the states historic Capitol building.
Calling on lawmakers to refer to their moral compass, Northam noted the disparities of Virginias past and present. Just across the city, he said, Patrick Henry a Founding Father and former Virginia governor had called for liberty or death atop a hill while human beings were sold as property at its foot.
Today, residents of low-income neighborhoods on one side of the Capitol might expect to live only 63 years, he said, while affluent people in the other direction enjoy life spans 20 years longer.
At: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/a-pragmatist-in-partisan-times-ralph-northam-becomes-virginias-73-governor/2018/01/13/86982592-f7d4-11e7-a9e3-ab18ce41436a_story.html?utm_term=.bd0d6e6ad533
The doctor is in the house: Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and his wife, Pam, dance at their inaugural ball.