We're fast approaching a landmark in Sullivan County: The installment of Meagan Galligan, the first-ever female district attorney in Sullivan County history.

First-ever.

In 2020.

Let's put this in perspective. According to statistics from the United States Census Bureau, approximately 48.5 percent of the Sullivan County population is female.

That's nearly half.

And we've never had someone who looks like us heading up the legal section of our government.

Little girls growing up in Sullivan County have never been able to open the newspaper or turn on a local newscast and see a face that looks like theirs staring back at them, letting them know they too can aspire to a law degree and top public office both.

I don't know Galligan, and I confess I'm relatively unfamiliar with her work. She's served our county for a decade already in an assistant district attorney capacity, and I've heard that she's been excellent in that position.

I wish her well as she takes over one of the most important positions in our county government.

And I want to thank her on behalf of all the women in Sullivan County, all the little girls who deserve to have someone like them representing us, thinking of our needs.

“Representation” has become a buzzword of this past decade, and it's one that can be hard to understand if you're always represented. If you have always turned on a television and seen people who look just like you starring in major roles. If you've always opened a newspaper and seen people who look just like you making headlines. If you've always been able to take for granted that people who look like you can achieve success, because the evidence has always been there.

The evidence hasn't been there for women and girls in Sullivan County, not when it comes to the office of district attorney.

As we head into 2020, Galligan offers representation to the nearly half of the county's population that has long gone unrepresented, even as she works to serve the entire county.

It's about time.