HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The Latest on Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s second inauguration (all times local):
12:30 p.m.
Gov. Tom Wolf is starting his second term by asking the state’s residents to work together to make Pennsylvania a better place.
The Democratic incumbent was sworn in for a second term Tuesday after overcoming contentious first-term budget fights to regain voters’ confidence and sweep to an easy re-election win.
Wolf says the challenges he highlighted in his first inaugural speech in 2015 haven’t disappeared, but he says working together has transformed Pennsylvania from a state at a crossroads to a state on a comeback.
He calls the October killing of 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh the toughest day he’s had as governor.
A new lieutenant governor, John Fetterman, was sworn in earlier in a separate ceremony in the state Senate chambers.
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10:40 a.m.
The former mayor of an economically distressed steel town is the new lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania.
Democrat John Fetterman took the oath of office Tuesday, giving Gov. Tom Wolf a new second-in-command as his second term gets underway.
The former Braddock mayor got the job by beating incumbent Lt. Gov. Mike Stack in the Democratic primary, then winning with Wolf in November.
Fetterman’s swearing-in took place in the Senate chambers, where the lieutenant governor presides during legislative sessions.
Wolf will take his own oath at noon a few hundred yards away, outside the Capitol’s East Wing.
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5:50 a.m.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is kicking off his second term after overcoming ugly first-term budget fights to regain voters’ confidence and sweep to an easy re-election win.
The Democrat starts the new term Tuesday still facing big Republican majorities in the Legislature that were hostile to large elements of his first-term agenda.
Still, the November election leaves him with more Democratic allies in the Legislature than he’s had and a new lieutenant governor, John Fetterman.
Wolf plans to push for policies to fight climate change, improve public education, fix inequities in Pennsylvania’s criminal justice system and make voting easier and more secure.
Flush with over $32 million in campaign contributions, Wolf trounced Republican Scott Wagner in November by 17 points.
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