Whoa. Hello, Marilyn.
I can tell you it is such a joy.
A joy to be here on this day,
and what a joy to be back
here in Maryland. I'm back.
I've just say I was just 22 years
old when I first came to Maryland.
I was starting a new job as a Co anchor
of the 6:00 O'clock News on WJZ TV.
And I left my home in Nashville
and I drove myself here.
In an Oldsmobile Cutlass. To Baltimore.
I moved into the third floor at
10109 Windstream Dr. Columbia, MD.
Which at the time was considered this
new model city. I was so excited.
Living away from home for the first time,
from my family for the very first time,
and as I walked around the city
of Baltimore that first week,
I saw the strangest thing.
Their promo campaign was
my face on billboards.
And my face on the backs of buses.
My face advertising the 6:00
o'clock News with Jerry Turner.
Remember Jerry Turner?
And a question on the billboards
and the buses.
Said what?
Is an Oprah.
Honestly, I didn't really know.
The answer to that myself.
When I moved to Maryland,
I had no idea really who I
was or what an Oprah was.
But I will tell you something,
Maryland, is where I figured it out.
The eight years that I lived here.
Were some of the most
significant years of my life.
I grew up here from a young naive girl.
I truly like had corn growing behind my ears.
I was truly green behind the ears.
And grew into a woman,
becoming more and more of myself from
every challenge and every experience.
I found community here at
Bethel AME Church every Sunday.
I found the freedom to perform
and feed my creative spirit.
I found my professional calling sitting
alongside Richard Chair for the show.
People are talking.
And though it wasn't the
job that I moved here to do,
it was the job that sparked my desire
to use television to tell stories
that would impact people's lives.
And I found some of the closest
friends of my life here,
Maria Shriver and maybe BFF Gayle King.
But most important,
in Maryland, I found myself.
This state is something special.
It's a place where so many others have
done and will do exactly what I did.
Plant the seeds of their wildest dreams
and watch those seeds grow into reality.
Maryland is full to the brim with
opportunity. It was back then.
It is now.
And I know that with Wes Moore
as your governor,
Maryland's best days lie ahead.
So let me tell you a little bit
about the westmoore that I know.
The West that I'm proud to
be standing here with today.
Well,
I met Wes for the first time
in 2010 when I interviewed him
about his best selling book.
Y'all read the book,
right?
Everybody's gonna want to read the book now.
I was so impressed even then by
his integrity and his wisdom.
He was wise beyond his years.
He knew who he was,
and he had a vision for who he intended
to be and how he wanted to serve.
Though I have to say,
I was delightfully surprised when he
called me last year on January 6th,
as a matter of fact, to tell me that
he wanted to serve as governor.
And I said, you want to run for
governor in this political climate
where everybody is so polarized,
where there's such vitriol? Look at
what's happening right now as we speak.
Because as he was telling me,
I could see the CNN screen behind him,
and that's the first I knew.
Of the invasion of the capital.
So then I turned it on.
I go look at what's happening.
You wanna run in this climate?
And he said exactly.
Exactly.
So I said go for it and I'll
be here if you need me.
I always walk away from a conversation
with Wes Moore with a new perspective.
With new ideas.
With a new way of seeing things,
a new burst of positive energy,
that's what you do for people.
And about five years ago,
Wes and are now First Lady
of Maryland Don Moore.
I'd come to my
house for dinner. And we had a
conversation that stayed with me.
I still think about that conversation.
We were talking about,
as we often do at the table,
how to live with purpose and meaning and
how to continue that into your later years.
And how to know that you are spending
your precious days in a way that you'll
be able to look back with pride and
have absolutely never any regret.
And I remember Wes, you said.
To me because I had just recently
ended the show and you said your job
title talk show host will change.
Your titles change throughout your life,
you said, but your occupation
will also change.
But your work, you say.
Will always be consistent.
Wes has had quite a few titles in his life.
Arthur.
Army Captain,
CEO and now governor.
The man has worn many hats,
but the work he's done,
the work he has always done.
That has never changed.
It has not changed,
not even a little.
He has always been committed to
helping young people find purpose
and direction in their lives.
That's why he started a small business
in Baltimore that gave a helping hand
to college students who needed one.
He's always believed that everyone
deserves an equal shot at success
and opportunity to live well,
to have lives that are meaningful
and provide for their families.
In the way that he's able to
provide for James and Mia,
that's why he joined the
Robin Hood Foundation,
one of the largest anti poverty
organizations in America,
and distributed more than $600
million to families in need.
He has always loved our country and believed
that our country is worth fighting for.
That's why he served as a captain and a
paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division.
So you see,
this might be his first day
as an elected official,
but Westmore has been a public service
servant his entire adult life.
And there's so much more to come.
He's just getting started.
I once asked Wes what service meant to him,
and he told me it's the thing that makes
your heart beat a little bit faster.
Well, something tells me that is you prepared
to tell us about your vision for a stronger,
safer, and more equitable Maryland,
a Maryland that leaves no one behind?
As you prepare to serve the state
that has meant so much to you,
I do believe that your heart must be pumping,
pumping, pumping,
pumping some wild ecstatic excitement and
love for Maryland and all who abide here.
It is my honor to introduce you as my friend.
To introduce you as someone who I.
Believe in as a man, I truly respect.
And a man I so trust.
I trust you.
I trust your vision.
I trust your leadership,
and I want you to know you can trust
it too in your new governor Westmore.