Current:Home > ScamsTahesha Way sworn in as New Jersey’s lieutenant governor after death of Sheila Oliver-LoTradeCoin
Tahesha Way sworn in as New Jersey’s lieutenant governor after death of Sheila Oliver
View Date:2024-12-23 23:54:58
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy named Secretary of State Tahesha Way to be the state’s next lieutenant governor, a month after Sheila Oliver died after a short hospitalization.
Way’s appointment takes effect immediately because the state constitution doesn’t require Senate approval for the nomination. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner swore her in Friday outside the governor’s office.
Her top duty will be filling in for the governor when he’s out of state or incapacitated, or if he can no longer serve. But she will stay on as secretary of state, overseeing elections as well as the state museum and archives. Under the constitution the lieutenant governor also holds a Cabinet position.
Way, accompanied by three of her four daughters and husband Charles Way, expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve and promised to keep the cost of living down and to protect fundamental freedoms.
“I will dedicate every day of my life to fighting for the forgotten families of our state,” she said.
As secretary of state she oversaw the implementation of early in-person voting as well as the 2020 election, which occurred almost entirely with mail-in ballots because of COVID-19 restrictions.
She succeeds Oliver, who died last month of unrevealed causes after a short hospitalization while Murphy had been out of the country.
Way, Democrat like Murphy, has served as secretary of state since the start of Murphy’s administration in early 2018. She was previously special counsel to the Passaic County Board of Social Services.
She’s a graduate of Brown University and the University of Virginia School of Law and previously served as a county officeholder in Passaic and an administrative law judge.
Way is just the third person to hold the post of lieutenant governor, a newer state government position that began under previous Gov. Chris Christie.
veryGood! (99578)
Related
- Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn is ending her retirement at age 40 to make a skiing comeback
- Taylor Swift shares sweet moment with Kobe Bryant's 6-year-old daughter: 'So special'
- The FDA approves the first pill specifically intended to treat postpartum depression
- Mexico recovers 2 bodies from the Rio Grande, including 1 found near floating barrier that Texas installed
- Florida Man Arrested for Cold Case Double Murder Almost 50 Years Later
- WWE SummerSlam 2023 results: Roman Reigns wins Tribal Combat after Jimmy Uso returns
- Officials warn of high-risk windy conditions at Lake Mead after 2 recent drownings
- St. Louis police protesters begin picking up checks in $4.9 million settlement
- Former Disney Star Skai Jackson Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby With Her Boyfriend
- Charles Ogletree, longtime legal and civil rights scholar at Harvard Law School, dies at 70
Ranking
- Video shows Starlink satellite that resembled fireball breaking up over the Southwest: Watch
- FAA sets up new process for lower air tour flights in Hawaii after fatal crashes
- Climate change threatens Germany's fairy tale forests
- Gas prices rising again: See the top 10 states where gas is cheapest and most expensive
- TikToker Campbell “Pookie” Puckett Gives Birth, Welcomes First Baby With Jett Puckett
- Hop in the minivan: 'Summer Is for Cousins' invites you on a family vacation
- Pope wraps up an improvised World Youth Day with 1.5 million attendees and a very big Mass
- Why the Menendez Brothers Murder Trial Was Such a Media Circus in Its Day—or Any Day
Recommendation
-
Pitchfork Music Festival to find new home after ending 19-year run in Chicago
-
Officials order Wisconsin brewery to close. Owner says it’s payback for supporting liberals
-
Anthony Davis agrees to three-year, $186 million extension with Los Angeles Lakers
-
Funder of Anti-Child Trafficking Film Sound of Freedom Charged With Accessory to Child Kidnapping
-
Dogecoin soars after Trump's Elon Musk announcement: What to know about the cryptocurrency
-
Jeremy Allen White Kisses Ashley Moore Amid Addison Timlin Divorce
-
New York Activists Descend on the Hamptons to Protest the Super Rich Fueling the Climate Crisis
-
Pope wraps up an improvised World Youth Day with 1.5 million attendees and a very big Mass