On Saturday, Jan. 17, Virginia will celebrate its 75th Gubernatorial Inauguration on the grounds of the State Capitol in Richmond. Rich Meagher, Professor and Chair of Randolph-Macon’s Department of Political Science, gave us five things to know about a weekend of ceremonies filled with history and tradition.

1. Virginia’s Governor is the only Governor in the United States that cannot be re-elected to a consecutive term.

Abigail Spanberger will become Governor, and then she’ll immediately be a lame duck. She can’t run again. In most states, the Governor has to think towards their next election. But here in Virginia, the Governor is immediately going to be kicked out of office after four years.

2. Funding for inauguration ceremonies comes from both public and private sources.

The Governor being sworn in is more than a five-minute “put your hand on a Bible and say a few words.” It is a weekend-long series of events paid for by public and private funds. There’s the swearing-in ceremony that is publicly funded and part of the inaugural protocol for what brings in a Governor. There’s the swearing-in ceremony, there’s the parade, and then there are a bunch of parties. Governor Spanberger is going to have a maker’s market the night before, and all of this is very expensive. So, there’s the budget for the parade and scaffolding and the swearing-in ceremony, and then there’s a private committee that raises money for the inauguration. Glenn Youngkin’s committee raised over $3 million, Governor Spanberger has raised over $4 million. I guess that’s the price of inflation these days!

3. Virginia’s statewide officials will each mark historic “firsts” for the state.

It was a historic election, and this will be a historic inauguration. Abigail Spanberger is the first woman to be elected Governor in Virginia. She’s number 75, so it took a very long time to get there. Very few states have never elected a woman to be Governor, and Abigail Spanberger will be the first here. There will also be the swearing-in of the Attorney General, Jay Jones, who will be the first African American Attorney General in Virginia. And Ghazala Hashmi will be the Lieutenant Governor, and she’s the first Indian American woman in a statewide office in Virginia and the first Muslim American woman to be elected statewide anywhere in the United States.

4. Virginia is one of only two states with a gubernatorial inauguration this year.

Very few states have elections in odd years, but we do here in Virginia, and it’s a historical accident. It gets switched as a result of a delay in getting a constitution passed in the 1800s, and there was never really any strong impetus to change it. Now, during segregation, the reason why the off-year elections were preferred is because it kept turnout down, and then it was easier to kind of control the population. These days, I think it’s just inertia. It’s really hard to reorient the entire election apparatus for a state, and it would involve constitutional amendments, and redistricting perhaps. It’s just a big, big thing that’s probably not going to change anytime soon. Plus, politicians in Virginia like being the only game in town, they like having special attention, and all eyes of the country are usually on Virginia when it has its off-year election.

5. Virginia’s governor-elect traditionally wears a morning coat, but that could change this year.

One other tradition that’s changing this year is that the Governor traditionally wears what’s called a morning coat, it has an ascot and a tail. It’s a very traditional tuxedo kind of outfit, and there’s never been a question of what the Governor wears to the inauguration, because it’s always been a man. And there are protocol rules about what men and women wear at the Capitol and during the inauguration, but there never has been a woman inaugurated. So, I wonder if Abigail Spanberger will make her own way and wear some kind of new outfit, not the dark suit that’s usually expected of women. We don’t usually have to pay attention to what women are wearing, and we don’t want to be sexist about that, but that’s a real point of new tradition here for Governor Spanberger. I think there’ll be a lot of interest in what she actually decides to wear, and what that means.