A chilly, damp Saturday in Richmond was history making.
Jay Jones was sworn in as the first African American Attorney General of Virginia. Ghazala Hashmi was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor, the first person of Muslim faith to hold statewide office in Virginia. And Abigail Spanberger became the 75th Governor of the Commonwealth and the first woman to hold the office.
Spanberger used her inaugural address to call for unity, casting herself as a kind of alternative to President Donald Trump. She never said his name, but the implications were clear.
"Our hardworking, law-abiding immigrant neighbors will know that when we say — we’ll focus on the security and safety of all of our neighbors— we mean them too."
Spanberger ran through the history of the suffragist movement and talked about the importance of a peaceful transfer of power. She pledged to work for Virginians who are worried about what's happening in Washington.
"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, the very values we celebrate here on these steps."
Thousands of Virginians attended Spanberger’s inauguration Saturday.
Among them was Richmond podcaster Finale Norton. She said she hopes Spanberger addresses what she called, “fair elections,” including a mid-district redraw of Virginia’s congressional maps.
“What’s going to be the most important thing is we have maps that are fair. That look at us like we’re looking at states like Texas that have already done redistricting, because they haven’t done it in a way that promotes voting equality in the country. So, for us it really is about fair elections,” Norton said.
Norton was among an estimated 5,000 attendees, including nine former governors. Spanberger used the occasion to note that one of them, Douglas Wilder, was celebrating his 95th birthday Saturday. Wilder was the first elected African American governor of any state.
Spanberger has another major speech Monday afternoon to a joint assembly of the House and Senate, where she will lay out her policy agenda for the 2026 General Assembly session.
You can hear the entire address to the General Assembly Monday at 7pm on Radio IQ.
