RICHMOND, Va.
Shattering a longstanding sartorial tradition, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger was sworn in Saturday wearing not the customary morning coat, but a white ensemble—a powerful nod to the women’s suffrage movement.
Virginia protocol calls for men in the official party to wear formal morning coats with tails and women to wear dark suits. Many, including Spanberger’s husband, adhered to the tradition.
Spanberger, the first woman elected to lead the commonwealth, had signaled the change in a recent NPR interview: “I’m not going to wear a morning coat, not to disappoint anyone.”
Her choice—a long white coat with gold buttons and white gloves—visibly linked her historic inauguration to the decades-long fight for women’s voting rights.
In her address, she honored that legacy directly. “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,” Spanberger said.
By trading tradition for symbolism, the new governor framed her ascension not merely as a personal achievement, but as the fulfillment of a broader historical struggle.
By James Kisoo
