Abigail Spanberger is set to take Virginia's top office on Saturday, becoming the first female governor to lead the state, with Democrats regaining control of the seat.
She will be sworn in during a midday inauguration ceremony filled with pageantry and grandeur in front of the state Capitol in Richmond. A traditional inaugural parade will kick off after the ceremony.
Spanberger is a former CIA case officer and member of Congress.
Her 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.
“For the next generation of kids, it’ll be normal to see a woman in this role, whether it’s doing the joyful things of ribbon cuttings or the hard things of contending with whatever challenges we might be facing into the future,” Spanberger has said.
Spanberger's first act as Governor was to repeal Glenn Youngkin's executive order to cooperate with ICE.
On the same day, Virginia's first Muslim Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi was sworn into office. She elected to use a Quaran instead of the traditional bible.
