Spanberger turns into 1st girl to function governor of Virginia : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2250+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc1%2Fad%2F0ef22a1a4b16a85b61014a7bd51e%2F260113-gov-elect-abigail-spanberger-06.JPG" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2250+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc1%2Fad%2F0ef22a1a4b16a85b61014a7bd51e%2F260113-gov-elect-abigail-spanberger-06.JPG" class="img" alt="Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger poses for a portrait during an interview in Richmond, Va., on Tuesday, Jan 13, 2026. Spanberger will break decades of tradition during her inauguration on Saturday by not wearing a morning suit worn by many male governors before her." fetchpriority="high"/> Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger poses for a portrait throughout an interview in Richmond, Va., on Tuesday, Jan 13, 2026. Spanberger will break many years of custom throughout her inauguration on Saturday by not sporting a morning swimsuit worn by male governors earlier than her. Tyrone Turner/WAMU cover caption

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Tyrone Turner/WAMU RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia inaugurates its governors in conventional model, full with a swearing-in ceremony exterior the Capitol constructing presided over by males in three-piece morning fits with coattails and an occasional prime hat.

"On the conclusion of the oaths, there's a 19-gun salute by the Nationwide Guard and a jet flyby, if that has been requested," reads the state's protocol information. "After the salute, the earlier Governor and his household retire from the platform."

Whereas everyone seems to be busy with the pomp and circumstance, the information continues, state staff "put together the Governor's Workplace for the brand new Governor and his workers … to be prepared to be used the next day."

However the information will want a tweak or two now that Abigail Spanberger is ready to turn into Virginia's seventy fifth governor and the primary girl within the function.

"There is not any necessities for what ladies put on, what ladies do," she mentioned. So she's doing her finest to honor the commonwealth's traditions — but additionally forge her personal.

"I am not going to put on a morning coat, to not disappoint anybody," she added with amusing.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2d%2F60%2F43b19f9d4c1fbfe8bcd16ce77f25%2Fmorning-suit-diptych.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2d%2F60%2F43b19f9d4c1fbfe8bcd16ce77f25%2Fmorning-suit-diptych.jpg" class="img" alt="Glenn Youngkin (left) and Ralph Northam wear the traditional morning suit at their inaugurations in 2022 and 2018." loading="lazy"/> Glenn Youngkin (left) and Ralph Northam put on the standard morning swimsuit at their inaugurations in 2022 and 2018. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photographs; Kevin Morley/AP cover caption

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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photographs; Kevin Morley/AP Spanberger, a Democrat, mentioned she desires her inauguration — which can be full with a parade, a small-business market, and a ball — to showcase the commonwealth's trendy vibrancy and variety. It helps that the 2 different leaders taking workplace are additionally breaking boundaries. Saturday, Ghazala Hashmi will turn into the lieutenant governor and the primary Muslim girl sworn right into a statewide workplace within the nation. Jay Jones will turn into the commonwealth's first Black lawyer normal.

Spanberger's personal historic "first" did not come up a complete lot on the marketing campaign path, maybe as a result of the three-term congresswoman and former CIA officer was operating towards one other girl, Republican Winsome Earle-Sears, for the job.

Spanberger, who led in fundraising all through the race, gained a decisive 15-point victory in November after a marketing campaign targeted on the price of dwelling and the impression of the Trump administration's federal cuts in Virginia. Democrats see her victory as an early take a look at case of the occasion's rising message on "affordability," which they're anticipated to deploy throughout the nation on this 12 months's midterms.

Financial issues have been on the forefront of her victory speech in November. However Spanberger additionally paid tribute to the Virginia ladies in politics earlier than her, together with Barbara Johns, a Black teenage activist who led a 1951 college walkout to protest college segregation. The walkout led to a authorized case that was later folded into the landmark U.S. Supreme Courtroom case Brown v. Board of Schooling that in the end desegregated American public colleges.

"She confirmed us that regardless of your age, you might be a part of the change and the progress that you simply need to see right here in Virginia and throughout the nation," Spanberger mentioned in her speech. "We're a nation based on concepts, however we're a rustic the place it's as much as us, the residents, who should put these concepts into motion."

She additionally acknowledged Mary Sue Terry, a fellow Democrat who served eight years within the Virginia Home of Delegates and one other eight as lawyer normal, making her the primary girl elected to a statewide place in Virginia.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3016x2031+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb0%2Fdc%2Fdcabab12413280d8dbb85b51ae8b%2Fap19302520232535.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3016x2031+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb0%2Fdc%2Fdcabab12413280d8dbb85b51ae8b%2Fap19302520232535.jpg" class="img" alt="Mary Sue Terry, the first woman elected to statewide office in Virginia, is sworn in as attorney general on Jan. 11, 1986. Terry recalled to NPR that members of the legislature debated what she should wear to the inauguration. "The speaker, who had been my running mate for three elections, cut the matter short and said, 'Hell, let her wear what she wants to wear. And that's what I did,' " she said." loading="lazy"/> Mary Sue Terry, the primary girl elected to statewide workplace in Virginia, is sworn in as lawyer normal on Jan. 11, 1986. Terry recalled to NPR that members of the legislature debated what she ought to put on to the inauguration. "The speaker, who had been my operating mate for 3 elections, reduce the matter quick and mentioned, 'Hell, let her put on what she desires to put on.' And that is what I did," she mentioned. Steve Helber/AP cover caption

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Steve Helber/AP Terry mentioned she was shocked and delighted to get a shout-out from Spanberger, who she mentioned is "not only a girl, however the proper girl for the job."

In a method, Spanberger's election felt like a vindication, she informed NPR. Terry ran for governor in 1993 however misplaced to Republican George Allen, regardless of her early benefits in fundraising and the polls. Throughout the marketing campaign, opponents criticized her for being single and childless. The assaults got here to a head a month earlier than Election Day, when Terry was accused of overlaying up a relationship with one other girl. The allegation was baseless and got here from a psychiatrist who had been prosecuted by Terry's workplace for having intercourse with minors, however it dominated information protection within the crucial closing weeks of the race. To keep away from prosecution, the psychiatrist gave up his medical license.

"All I knew I might do was keep as centered as I might whereas internalizing the truth that after 15 years of public service in Virginia, my tenure as an elected official can be over on account of the allegations of my sexuality and my failure to have kids," Terry recalled.

She says the episode damage her deeply, and he or she apprehensive about what it meant for different ladies coming behind her.

"I am positive that there have been those that would contemplate operating who weren't snug with what I went by way of, and the prospect of what they'd undergo," Terry mentioned. "It was horrible."

However in her concession speech after she misplaced the race, Terry informed her supporters she nonetheless believed one other girl would succeed at some point.

"Someplace in Virginia tonight, the primary girl governor of Virginia is watching," she mentioned, to cheers.

And whereas Spanberger cannot keep in mind if she watched Terry's speech greater than thirty years in the past — she was in ninth grade on the time — she does keep in mind how excited her mom was about Terry's candidacy, which she insisted on making "a teachable second" for Spanberger and her two sisters.

"I do know that I used to be watching her campaigning and excited and impressed by that," she recalled. "Simply because it did not go all the best way to the inaugural day, doesn't suggest that it wasn't impactful on all of us."

Spanberger has a giant job forward of her. She'll have to steer Virginia by way of a lagging financial system and federal cuts to well being care and the social security internet, which she identified will deeply have an effect on Virginia ladies, notably moms caring for youngsters.

"It is turning into incumbent on states to endeavor to bridge the hole the place potential to make sure that it isn't youngsters and their caregivers who're bearing the biggest brunt of these decisions," she mentioned.

She cited conversations with hospital techniques in Virginia who could also be pressured to shrink or get rid of expensive labor and supply models as they climate federal shifts. She additionally mentioned she would deal with insurance policies to enhance the financial actuality of Virginia ladies, together with lowering the state's childcare waitlist to permit caregivers to extra simply rejoin the workforce.

However for now, Spanberger can be relishing the prospect to form a brand new picture of what a Virginia governor might be — notably for the littlest Virginians. She recounted a latest instance from a father she met at an occasion.

"When he was leaving his house that afternoon, he mentioned, 'Oh, I'll go meet the following governor,' and his little daughter mentioned, 'Okay, nicely inform him hey.' And he mentioned to his daughter, 'Really, no, it is a girl. The following governor is a lady.'"