State Has First Female Governor

Virginia, where all 74 governors had been men and where the federal amendment granting women the vote was not ratified until 1952, swore in Abigail Spanberger as its chief executive on Saturday. The former CIA officer and congresswoman wore a white coat as she took the oath on the steps of the Capitol in Richmond, acknowledging the suffrage movement that once held rallies on the spot. Her 15-point victory in November flipped control to Democrats in the state. "We will not agree on everything," Spanberger, 46, said in her inaugural address, the Washington Post reports. "But I speak from personal experience when I say we do not have to see eye-to-eye on every issue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder on others."

With her party's newly expanded majorities in the House of Delegates and state Senate, Spanberger pledged to pursue a Democratic agenda, though she emphasized bipartisanship. She campaigned on tackling affordability issues, including housing, energy, health care, and job insecurity, and criticized economic and social policies backed by the Trump administration without naming the president. Spanberger succeeds Republican Glenn Youngkin, who urged Democrats in his final speech to the legislature this week to stick to his business-friendly policies and establish a relationship with the Trump administration.

The new governor signaled a sharp break, especially on immigration, saying that "hardworking, law-abiding immigrant neighbors" would be included in efforts to improve safety and security. And Spanberger invoked Patrick Henry, the commonwealth's first governor, quoting, "Let us not split into factions, which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs," per Politico. She added, "That was the charge Governor Henry put to Virginia at the close of the 18th century, and it is the charge we must answer again today."

There were other Virginia firsts on Saturday: Ghazala Hashmi became the state's first Muslim and first Indian American lieutenant governor, and Jay Jones was sworn in as the first Black attorney general elected in Virginia. Spanberger will be referred to as "Madam Governor," per the AP, which notes that Virginia didn't have a woman as colonial governor before becoming a commonwealth in 1776, either.