Abigail Spanberger wore suffragette white as she was sworn into office Saturday, Jan. 17, as Virginia’s first female governor.
Spanberger defeated former Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears to succeed Glenn Youngkin.
“The history and the gravity of this moment are not lost on me,” Spanberger said in her address. “I maintain an abiding sense of gratitude to those who work, generation after generation, to ensure women could be among those casting ballots, but who could only dream of a day like today.”
Ghazala Hashmi, the first muslim woman to serve in a statewide office in the US was sworn in as the new lieutenant governor. Jay Jones was also sworn in as Virginia’s first Black attorney general.
After the ceremony, Spanberger vetoed Executive Order 47, ending Virginia’s participation in the federal program that allowed local law enforcement to act as immigration customs (ICE) agents as a part of her 10 executive orders.
The other orders targeted affordability and pushed Virginia away from Youngkin’s approaches to education.
The directives on affordability identified cost savings for families and finding house regulations that may potentially be cut to spur new home and apartment construction.
Another executive order naming housing, health care, energy, education, child care and living expenses like groceries as areas of particular concern.
Spanberger created an “Interagency Health Financing Task Force” to coordinate health care financing to sort out various funding risks. It also includes a review of Managed Care Organizations, a key part of Medicaid services.
Spanberger also appointed new board members at three state schools. She asked five board members at the University of Virginia, all appointees of Youngkin, to step down. The conservative board members were successful last summer in removing James E. Ryan from the university presidency after his support for DEI initiatives.
Spanberger also announced the appointment of new board members at George Mason University and the Virginia Military Institute.
Spanberger delivered her first address to a joint session of the General Assembly on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 19.
She outlined her vision to lower costs for families, economic growth and to strengthen public schools. She said Virginia will rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Spanberger discussed rising healthcare costs, energy bills and rent as well, all points she highlighted separately in her first 10 executive orders on her inauguration.
Lowering these costs is among her top priorities to make Virginia more affordable to live and work.
