Repost from Richmond Times Dispatch.
Glenn Allen Youngkin was sworn in on Saturday as Virginia’s 74th governor, vowing in an inaugural address delivered on the steps of the Capitol to embark on a mission to “restore trust in government, and to restore power to the people.”
Youngkin, 55, took the oath of office surrounded by his family and dozens of state leaders. He rose from a business executive with no public office experience to become the first Republican since 2014 to hold the state’s highest office.
Youngkin’s address, delivered from the South Portico, relied heavily on rhetoric from his campaign for governor: that Virginia is not, but could be, “the best place to live, work and raise a family,” and that public liberties have been subjugated by the outgoing party.
The new governor immediately issued executive orders scrapping mask mandates in schools and COVID-19 vaccine requirements for state workers. Youngkin’s very first executive order bans the teaching of “divisive concepts” in schools, including “critical race theory,” a term Republicans use to refer to lessons on systemic racism.
In a day of firsts, Winsome Earle-Sears took the oath as lieutenant governor, becoming the second woman and the first woman of color to hold elective statewide office in Virginia. New Attorney General Jason Miyares became the first Latino to hold statewide office in Virginia.