Virginia — 1st District

After the pancake lesson from Torrece Gregoire, owner of Chef T Culinary Concepts, and before making Elephant’s Toothpaste, Adam Spanberger chatted about his new, groundbreaking role as Virginia’s First Gentleman.

The day after his wife, Abigail Spanberger, took the oath of office and made history as Virginia’s first woman governor, Adam Spanberger told a pancake breakfast he hosted at the Science Museum, “She is already hard at work and couldn’t be here, but I wanted to publicly thank her, her tenacity, empathy and dedication of service inspires me, inspires her kids and inspires everyone around her.”

“She has been in politics about eight years, and I’ve been supporting her through the highs and lows of all of that, and it’s been wild so far,” he said.

“Abigail and I have been on many, many adventures together. … but then we decided many years ago to move back home, to bring our kids to live closer to their cousins, their aunts and uncles and grandparents, and it’s been amazing,” he said. “Never imagined a world of politics, but here’s where we are trying to make a more perfect community, a more perfect union to leave behind for our kids.”

Some 500 supporters of Abigail Spanberger’s change of career, from law enforcement and the Central Intelligence Agency to politics, gathered to celebrate her election, and his new role.

Kristin Robinson drove down from Leesburg for Saturday’s inauguration with her daughter and stayed for the breakfast before heading back home.

“We’re excited about being here and seeing what changes will be coming to the commonwealth,” she said.

Spanberger was Susan Motley’s representative in Congress before the 2021 redistricting shifted the district’s lines north.

“It’s mostly neighbors and friends here, people who’ve supported her all along,” Motley said.

For Adam Spanberger, it was a chance to stress his commitment — and the new governor’s — to education and the state’s children.

“I’ve been the first gentleman for not quite a day. We’ve got 1,455 more to go. Not that I’m counting, but I want to make each one of them meaningful, and I’ll spend those days helping the governor any way I can to make Virginia the best place to raise a family, build a business, go on vacation, earn a degree, and just generally, live,” he said.

“In terms of initiatives, for me, it’s always going to be about kids,” he said.

“It’s always going to be all making sure they’re fed, they’re safe. We’ve got access to great education, and to me, that means that every school district in the commonwealth has the resources for teachers and counselors, so we can hire you,” he said.

“But I also want to ensure that kids are having fun, especially fun that gets people off of their screens,” he said.

Spanberger, an engineer who fell in love with science and math from frequent visits to the Science Museum as a kid, followed this promise up by joining a museum staffer making Elephant’s Toothpaste – a chemistry demonstration that creates an eruption of thick foam by adding sodium iodide to a flask of hydrogen peroxide, a chemical that when diluted is used in toothpaste, mouthwashes and for first aid treatment of minor wounds.

But before that unexpected ending to his chat, Spanberger had this to share.

“I know that the next four years will be crazy. It will be an adventure. We will make it through together,” he said, turning to his three school-age daughters and adding, “I will always be here with fresh pancakes, girls. And about six or seven bad Dad jokes.”