In October 2023, then-U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger was preparing to visit her alma mater as rumors swirled that she had her political sights set on the Virginia governor’s mansion.
“I haven’t announced anything yet,” she told UVA Today at the time. “But I certainly think there is no better place for a Wahoo.”
On Saturday, the University of Virginia alumna fulfilled her not-so-cryptic hint. Spanberger became the first woman inaugurated as Virginia’s governor and the first Wahoo in more than a quarter-century elected to the office.
On a gray, drizzly day that eventually gave way to sunshine, Spanberger descended the steps of the Virginia Capitol dressed entirely in dazzling white, an apparent tribute to the suffragettes who, while fighting for the right to vote, could have scarcely imagined a woman leading Virginia.
Adam Spanberger, center, watches as his wife takes office in a historic moment. Adam, a UVA graduate, is also making history as the state’s first first gentleman. (Photo by Matt Riley, UVA Communications)
“It is the honor of my life to stand before you and take the oath today,” she told the crowd. “The history and the gravity of this moment are not lost on me. I maintain an abiding sense of gratitude to those who worked generation after generation to ensure a woman could be among those casting ballots, but who could only dream of a day like today.”
On Grounds, she was Abigail Anne Davis, a student with a penchant for foreign languages who wanted to be a CIA spy. Her calling to serve – modeled by her father as a law enforcement officer and her mother as a nurse – was a natural fit at UVA, where hundreds of students each year embark on careers in the public sector.
Also on Grounds, her friendship with high school acquaintance Adam Spanberger, who also had enrolled in UVA, started to blossom.
Abigail Spanberger is a 2001 UVA graduate with a degree in French. She and fellow Wahoo Adam Spanberger later returned to Grounds to get married, with Cavman in attendance. (Contributed photos)
Adam, among other accomplishments, was a singer in an a cappella group, the New Dominions, which was one of several connections that brought second-year UVA student Caroline Flood to Richmond Saturday. Flood sings in the same ensemble, and her brother worked on the Spanberger campaign. Those ties, plus the chance to see an alumna make history, drew her to the inauguration.
“It’s just amazing that we have our first female governor,” Flood said. “I see a lot of myself in her. As a Virginian myself – I’m from Northern Virginia – I thought it would be such a special day. I couldn’t miss it.”
While the Spanbergers were the featured alumni at the Saturday ceremony, they were far from the only UVA connection.
