Spanberger sworn in as Virginia’s first woman governor

Under cloudy skies at the Virginia State Capitol, Abigail Davis Spanberger was sworn in as Virginia’s 75th governor just after noon Saturday, becoming the first woman to hold the commonwealth’s top elected office.

Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi and Attorney General Jay Jones also made history as the state’s first Muslim statewide office holder and Virginia’s first Black attorney general.

All Democrats, the three officials take office at a challenging time for the nation and the commonwealth, when federal workforce layoffs and funding cuts have taken significant tolls. Spanberger’s campaign centered on affordability, protecting and creating jobs in Virginia, and strengthening the state’s education system, among other goals.

In her inaugural speech, Spanberger made many references to Virginia’s history, referring to the state’s delayed ratification in 1952 of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote in 1920, as well as former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder’s election as the state’s first Black governor in 1989. Wilder, wearing a wide-brimmed off-white hat in the stands behind Spanberger, celebrated his 95th birthday Saturday and stood to applause when Spanberger wished him happy returns.

Spanberger was sworn in by Supreme Court of Virginia Senior Justice William C. Mims.

Clad in a long, winter white double-breasted coat, turtleneck and gloves, Spanberger stood next to Hashmi, Jones and their spouses, with former governors Glenn Youngkin, George Allen, Jim Gilmore, Bob McDonnell, Terry McAuliffe, Ralph Northam and Wilder in attendance, as well as U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, also former governors. Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Robb was the sole living ex-governor not in attendance.

Joined by her husband, Virginia’s new first gentleman, Adam Spanberger, and their three daughters, Spanberger quoted the state’s first governor, Patrick Henry, from a 1799 speech: “He made an appeal to his fellow citizens, warning against the divisions that were threatening our young country,” she said. “His appeal remains timeless. He said, ‘United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions, which would destroy that union upon our existence hangs.’ That was the challenge Gov. Henry put to Virginia at the close of the 18th century, and it is the charge we must answer again today.”

She did not name President Donald Trump by name, instead referring to “the recklessness coming out of Washington. You are worried about policies that are hurting our communities, cutting health care access, imperiling rural hospitals and driving up costs. You are worried about Washington policies that are closing off markets, hurting innovation and private industry and attacking those who have devoted their lives to public service.

“You are worried about an administration that is gilding buildings while schools crumble, breaking the social safety net and sowing fear across our communities, betraying the values of who we are as Americans here on these steps and across the commonwealth.”

To loud applause, Spanberger promised, “Our hard-working, law-abiding immigrant neighbors will know that when we say the security and safety of all our neighbors, we mean them too,” a reference to recent ICE actions in Minnesota and other states.

Known for bipartisanship during her three terms in Congress, Spanberger acknowledged that “some who are here today or watching from home may disagree with the litany of challenges and the hardships that I laid out. Your perspective may differ from mine, but that does not preclude us from working together where we may find common cause.”

She also repeated some of her campaign’s tenets, including increasing housing supply, addressing high rent and mortgage rates, lowering energy costs and keeping medical debt from spiraling.

Spanberger said that she will “work tirelessly for you and for our commonwealth,” citing the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “pilgrimage of prayer.”

“It gives me cause to reflect on what our path forward must be,” she said. “Not a pilgrimage of politics, certainly not a pilgrimage of partisanship, but rather a pilgrimage of promise, progress and prosperity. My fellow Virginians, as we set an example for the country and the world and, most importantly, for our children, let us choose to stand united, choose to serve one another. Choose to act together as we continue forward. Let us be united for Virginia’s future.”

Following her inauguration, Spanberger signed her first set of executive orders Saturday, including a statewide affordability directive for all executive branch agencies to submit reports within 90 days identifying ways to reduce costs for Virginians; establishing an interagency health financing task force; a comprehensive review of housing development permitting and regulations; creating the economic resiliency task force to respond to federal workforce reductions, funding cuts, tariffs and immigration impacts.

Another executive order directs the state Department of Education to review the process for appointing members to university boards of visitors, a pain point over the past year in the Youngkin administration, which had 22 board members rejected by Senate Democrats. On Friday, three University of Virginia board members resigned at Spanberger’s request, leaving her at least eight seats to fill.

Spanberger also rescinded Youngkin’s Executive Order 47, which required state and local law enforcement to divert resources for use in enforcing federal civil immigration laws.

Saturday’s ceremony, held in front of the historic Virginia State Capitol designed by Thomas Jefferson, included the Pledge of Allegiance led by the Girl Scouts of Virginia, a performance of the song “Shenandoah” by the Hermitage High School Select Treble & Chamber Singers, and an invocation by Father Jim Curran of Norfolk’s Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception.

Following Spanberger’s speech and swearing-in, members of Virginia’s Indian tribes performed a traditional dance and blessing of the ground, and a group of young Muslim singers known as ADAMS Beat from Sterling sang “This Land Is Your Land.” Lance D. Watson, senior pastor of Richmond’s Saint Paul’s Baptist Church, gave the benediction.

The ceremony was followed by a parade that included Spanberger’s Henrico County alma mater Tucker High School’s Marching Tigers band, the Norfolk State University Spartan Legion Marching Band, a group of NASA employees from the Wallops and Langley facilities, Virginia State University’s National Pan-Hellenic Council All-Star Step Team and two horses ridden by Virginia 4-H members, among other groups.