Matt Meyer

Matthew Stephen Meyer (born September 29, 1971) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 76th governor of Delaware since 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the New Castle County executive from 2017 to 2025. Prior to tenure as county executive, Meyer worked as an attorney in private practice, and was an economic advisor to former Democratic governor Jack Markell and an advisor within the U.S. State Department.

Meyer was born in Bay City, Michigan,^{[citation needed]} and grew up in Wilmington, Delaware. He graduated from Wilmington Friends School, Brown University (cum laude in political science and computer science), and the University of Michigan Law School (member, Michigan Law Review).

Meyer worked on then-U.S. senator Joe Biden’s first presidential campaign in 1988 while in high school at the Wilmington Friends School. He then worked on the upstart, successful, 1990 gubernatorial campaign of Bruce Sundlun while attending Brown University.

Meyer joined Teach for America, and taught public school in Washington, D.C. for three years. He also taught at Prestige Academy in Wilmington. He won a Skadden Fellowship upon graduation from law school and used it to work for Community Legal Aid in Wilmington. He then became an attorney working in mergers and acquisitions with Simpson Thacher and Bartlett. He served in Iraq as a diplomat for the U.S. State Department, as a senior economic adviser on the ground in Mosul, Iraq, working with military and economic aid leaders to assist the Iraqi people.

Later, he worked as an economic advisor to Delaware governor Jack Markell and was a partner at Potomac Law Group. In 2003 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Meyer was awarded the Sam Beard Jefferson Award for the Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 Years and Under; at that same ceremony Condoleezza Rice received a Jefferson Award.

In the 2016 Democratic primary for New Castle County executive, Meyer's campaign focused on integrity and economic policy. On September 13, Meyer upset three-term incumbent Tom Gordon, winning 52% of the vote. Meyer defeated Republican Mark Blake in the general election in November with 67% of the vote. He took office on January 3, 2017.

In 2020, Meyer faced a primary challenge from more centrist Maggie Jones. In July, Meyer faced allegations he made "belligerent" calls to two mayors who were supporting his opponent in the Democratic primary. Elsmere mayor Eric Scott Thompson and Newark mayor Jerry Clifton said Meyer's phone conversations with them were heated, and they felt the county executive made threats toward their communities by telling them that he "will remember this". Meyer refused to specifically address the accusations. On September 15, Meyer won the Democratic nomination, defeating Jones with 57% of the vote. Meyer won the general election unopposed.

Meyer selected the first African-American police chief and chief administrative officer in the 106-year history of the New Castle County Police Department.