Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger will be inaugurated as Virginia's first female governor on Saturday in Richmond.

On Jan. 21, 1985, Ronald Reagan's second inauguration became the coldest in modern American history, with temperatures plunging to 4 degrees below zero at dawn. The extreme cold forced the ceremony inside the Capitol Rotunda and canceled the parade.

Never before has a woman been sworn in to take the state’s top office. Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger will be the first Saturday when she takes the oath for the governorship.

As Virginia prepares for a historic inauguration weekend, a Hampton Roads priest will help set the tone for the ceremony marking a new chapter in state leadership.

Abigail Spanberger will make history when she becomes Virginia’s first woman governor on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. Spanberger, a Democrat, defeated Republican rival Winsome Earle-Sears in the Nov. 2025 election,

Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill and Lt. Gov.-elect Dale Caldwell announced their pre-inaugural schedule on Wednesday, a series of events that include a

Virginia Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger speaks during the Hampton Roads Chamber annual meeting at the Virginia Beach Convention Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Dec. 10, 2025. (Peter Casey/The Virginian-Pilot) Abigail Spanberger will be sworn in as Virginia’s 75th governor — the state’s first woman in that role — on Saturday.

RICHMOND, Va. — Abigail Spanberger made history on Saturday, Jan. 17, becoming the first female governor to lead the Commonwealth of Virginia. She was sworn in during a midday inauguration ceremony filled with pageantry and grandeur in front of the state Capitol in Richmond. A traditional inaugural parade kicked off after the ceremony.

Zohran Mamdani will hold two inauguration ceremonies on Thursday, one just after midnight and another at 1 p.m. Here’s everything to know about both events.

The inaugural ball for New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill was held at the American Dream Mall on Tuesday night.