By OLIVIA DIAZ Associated Press/Report for America
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Amid a cold drizzle, Democrat Abigail Spanberger was sworn into office Saturday at the state Capitol as Virginia’s first female governor after centuries of men holding the state’s top office.
The inauguration of Spanberger, who defeated Republican Winsome Earle-Sears to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin, marks a new chapter in Virginia as Democrats pull the levers of power in state government while Republican President Donald Trump sits in the White House in neighboring Washington.
“The history and the gravity of this moment are not lost on me,” Spanberger said in her address. “I maintain an abiding sense of gratitude to those who work, generation after generation, to ensure women could be among those casting ballots, but who could only dream of a day like today.”
Spanberger ran on a vow to protect Virginia’s economy from the aggressive tactics of Trump’s administration. On the trail, she spoke of the White House’s gutting the civil service, the rising costs of goods and changes impacting the state’s already fragile health care system.
In a thinly veiled dig at the president, Spanberger said it was time for Virginians to fix what was broken.
“I know many of you are worried about the recklessness coming out of Washington,” she said. “You are worried about policies that are hurting our communities, cutting health care access, imperiling rural hospitals and driving up costs.”
Two other Democrats were also sworn in Saturday. Ghazala F. Hashmi, the first Muslim woman to serve in statewide office in the U.S., is the new lieutenant governor. Hashmi placed her hand on a Quran as she was sworn in. Jay Jones is Virginia’s first Black attorney general. He was sworn into his post, notably, in the former capital of the Confederacy.
After the ceremony, Hashmi and Jones stood behind Spanberger as she signed her first 10 executive orders. One order that Spanberger signed Saturday rescinds a Youngkin directive from last year instructing state law enforcement and corrections officers to assist with immigration enforcement.
“Local law enforcement should not be required to divert their limited resources to enforce federal civil immigration laws,” she said.
Spanberger’s inauguration as the state’s 75th governor is a historic first: only men have held the post since Virginia first became a commonwealth in 1776. And no woman served as a colonial governor before then.
She will be referred to with traditional formality: “Madam Governor” or, as some officials phrase it, “her excellency.”
According to “A Guide to Virginia Protocol and Traditions,” males in the official party wear morning coats and women wear dark suits for the inauguration and many, including the new governor’s husband, kept to that tradition on Saturday.
But as the first woman to serve as governor, Spanberger wore all white on Saturday, a possible tribute to the women’s suffrage movement. She wore a gold pin on her long, white coat that said: “One country. One destiny.”
Prominent Democrats attended the ceremony, such as New Jersey Gov.-Elect Mikie Sherrill and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. U.S. Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Adam Schiff were seated in the crowd.
On his 95th birthday, former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder also sat behind Spanberger and watched her inauguration.
“On these steps, Virginia inaugurated our 66th governor and our nation’s first elected African American governor,” Spanberger said in her speech. “Gov. L. Douglas Wilder changed what so many of our fellow citizens believed was even possible.”
Democrats in the statehouse have vowed to work with Spanberger to push through their bullish agenda, which includes redrawing the state’s congressional district map ahead of the midterm elections this year.
The state Democrats picked up 13 seats in the House of Delegates a year after the party’s stunning losses nationwide in the 2024 presidential election.