Tina Kotek was sworn in as Oregon’s governor Monday, becoming, with Massachusetts’s Maura Healey, one of the first two out lesbian governors in the nation.
Healey took her oath of office last week.Kotek, a Democrat, was sworn in by Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Meagan Flynn shortly before 2 p.m.
at a joint session of the Oregon House and Senate at the state’s capitol. The new governor was accompanied by her wife, Aimee Wilson, and gave her a shout-out after taking the oath, calling Wilson “the first lady of Oregon” and adding, “Thank you, my love, for your support.”Kotek defeated Republican Christine Drazan and independent Betsy Johnson in November.
Kotek was previously speaker of the Oregon House, the first lesbian to hold such a position in the U.S., and she was also the longest-serving speaker in Oregon history.