It’s hard to make history in Virginia these days, if only because the commonwealth has been at the center of so much of it. The first English settlers arrived on these shores more than 400 years ago, and the first democratically elected colonial legislature, the House of Burgesses, followed shortly after.

Yet, from the election of our first chief executive in 1776, coming as the colonies declared their independence from Great Britain, Virginia had never elevated a woman to its highest office — until Tuesday, when Democrat Abigail Spanberger won a decisive majority in this year’s election.

Come January, she will take the oath of office as Virginia’s 75th governor, succeeding Republican Glenn Youngkin and making history in the process. Though to say she is defined only by her gender, rathe

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