Virginia Democrats Choose State’s First Female Speaker Amid Progressive Challenge

Eileen Filler-Corn, a Fairfax County Democrat, makes Virginia history as the state's first female speaker. (Photo: Julia Rendleman/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Eileen Filler-Corn, a Fairfax County Democrat, makes Virginia history as the state's first female speaker. (Photo: Julia Rendleman/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Virginia Democrats on Saturday chose Eileen Filler-Corn as the first female speaker of the state’s House of Delegates, shutting out a progressive challenger and handing a clean sweep to the party’s moderate wing as it gets ready to take power next year.

Filler-Corn, 55, a white moderate with big-business ties, won out in a secret ballot over Lashrecse Aird, who is younger, more liberal and Black. The speaker-designee nonetheless makes history as the first woman to lead the chamber in the legislature’s 400-year history. She is also the first Jewish person to hold the top post.

In addition to Filler-Corn, Charniele Herring, the outgoing Democratic caucus chairwoman, won the race for House majority leader, and Rip Sullivan prevailed in the contest for caucus chair. Both defeated challengers with more progressive records.

The result is a disappointment to progressives inside and outside of the chamber who hoped Democrats would pick the state’s first Black speaker and bristled at Filler-Corn’s full-time job as managing director of a lobbying firm with major corporate clients. Filler-Corn’s spokesperson has said she would recuse herself from votes on legislation in which her firm, Albers & Company, has a vested interest.

“The firsts are not lost on me ― the first woman and the first Jewish person elected Speaker-designee in our 400 year legislative history ― but it doesn’t define me,” Filler-Corn said in a statement. “When I joined this body less than 10 years ago, I was the only mom serving with school-aged kids. We have come so far since then.

“We have the most diverse House Caucus in our history, which includes cultural, gender and geographic diversity,” she continued. “It also means a diversity of experience and perspectives on issues that affect Virginians, in all regions.”

Virginia Del. Lashrecse Aird, pictured on Feb. 22, 2019, ran to the left of Del. Eileen Filler-Corn in the race for the speakership of the House of Delegates. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Virginia Del. Lashrecse Aird, pictured on Feb. 22, 2019, ran to the left of Del. Eileen Filler-Corn in the race for the speakership of the House of Delegates. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Filler-Corn also fended off a bid from Ken Plum, a House veteran and fellow northern Virginian, who has served in the chamber since 1978. Luke Torian, a Black moderate and pastor from northern Virginia, dropped out of the race prior to the vote on Saturday and endorsed Filler-Corn, according to a person familiar with the party’s closed-door deliberations.

The Virginia House Democratic Caucus is not releasing information about Filler-Corn’s margin of victory, to say nothing of how individual members voted. She prevailed, however, on the first ballot, winning an outright majority among her colleagues.

Filler-Corn remains speaker-designee until a broader vote on the House floor, where members from both parties will have their say. The legislative body’s 55 Democrats are expected to remain unified behind Filler-Corn to prevent a Republican from nabbing the speakership.

Her victory, along with those of Herring and Sullivan, ensures that Virginia House Democrats are marching in tandem with Gov. Ralph Northam and the Democratic-controlled state Senate, where business-friendly, four-decade veteran, Dick Saslaw, is in charge.

The ‘Virginia Way’ Marches On

Virginia Democrats swept to power on Tuesday, driving Republicans out of their last strongholds ― the House of Delegates and state Senate ― on the strength of the state’s growing affluent suburbs and their revulsion toward President Donald Trump. Because Northam is a Democrat, the victories provided the party unified control of state government ― a trifecta ― for the first time since 1993.

But more than merely winning power, these Democrats offered the promise of a newer, more diverse and ideologically left-leaning kind of party.

Aird, a 33-year-old Petersburg resident and chief of staff of William & Mary’s junior college, who was first elected in 2015, embodies the state’s shifting demographics and politics. Aird had promised to expand and open up the House’s leadership and committee system, giving greater leeway to the state House’s ascendant group of economic populists. She is backed by hedge fund manager Michael Bills, a leading critic of the state’s famously powerful electric utility monopolies ― Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power. And she claimed that she would allow votes on pro-union bills granting the public sector collective bargaining rights and repealing Virginia’s status as a “right to work” state where unions are forbidden from compelling workers they represent to pay dues.

Observers wondered whether, with her underdog speakership bid, the state’s Democratic Party might reach a point where it was willing to turn its back, at least in one chamber, on the old “Virginia Way” ― a byword for bipartisan gentility that doubles as a description of the state’s clubby, pro-corporate and ethically challenged political culture.

In the end though, Filler-Corn and her allies, many of whom reside in safe seats and can thus spread their campaign cash to embattled colleagues, fended off the insurgency.

Some members disagreed with Aird’s decision to announce her bid the day after Tuesday’s elections, claiming it was too soon. They also lamented the way that Aird had fought her race in the press, according to the person familiar with the deliberations who spoke to HuffPost on the condition of anonymity. It’s a pitfall inherent to running as a gate-crasher in a state where etiquette is something of a civic religion.

Now that they are in power, Democrats in the Virginia legislature are almost certain to move quickly to tighten gun safety regulations, strengthen protections for LGBTQ residents and even raise the state’s minimum wage, which is currently only $7.25 an hour.

But the prospects of more ambitious expansions of the social welfare state and efforts to take on the Old Dominion’s most powerful corporations, including its utility monopolies, have grown considerably dimmer. Efforts to combat climate change, in particular, are likely to be far more accommodating to Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power than antitrust advocates would like. These activists fear not only that the monopolies, which extract fossil fuels and generate electricity in addition to transmitting it, will both try to water down climate legislation and dominate any growth in the state’s renewable energy generation.

What’s more, poll watchers noted that the leadership team consists entirely of Democrats from the Washington-area suburbs of northern Virginia. It has prompted fears that they will not adequately represents Democrats from other regions, such as Hampton Roads, central Virginia and southwest Virginia

“There are 12 House Districts out of 100 that are inside the beltway or on it,” Virginia political consultant Ben Tribbett wrote on Twitter. “The top three positions in the new House will all be filled from there. All by people who underperformed in their first elections by double digits from most recent Presidential. Not a good start.”

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<strong>ALABAMA STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Montgomery, Alabama    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1851  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Greek Revival  <strong>FYI:</strong> A bronze star marks the spot where Jefferson Davis, newly named president of the Confederate States of America, gave his inaugural address.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Guided tours are offered on Saturdays at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 pm.
<strong>ALASKA STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Juneau, Alaska    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1931  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Art Deco  <strong>FYI:</strong> The limestone and marble used to construct the building’s facade is also native to Alaska—it hails from the Prince of Wales Island.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Guided tours are available from mid-May to mid-September, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
<strong>MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE</strong>  Boston, Massachusetts    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1798  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Federal  <strong>FYI:</strong> The gleaming dome of the Massachusetts State House was not always metal. The original wooden topper leaked, so it was remodeled and covered in copper by a noteworthy company: Paul Revere and Sons.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Guided tours are offered Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Reservations are required.
<strong>ARIZONA STATE CAPITOL MUSEUM</strong>  Phoenix, Arizona    <strong>Year completed: </strong>1900  <strong>Architectural style</strong>: Classical Revival  <strong>FYI:</strong> The building, once home to the territorial government, is now a museum dedicated to the history of Arizona. The governor’s office and state House and Senate floors are located in other buildings in the same complex off Wesley Bolin Plaza.  <strong>Visit:</strong> The museum exhibits are open from Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with staff available to answer questions from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Or, reserve a guided tour (from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.)
<strong>ARKANSAS STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Little Rock, Arkansas    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1915  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Neo-Classical  <strong>FYI:</strong> Don’t forget to look up. The rotunda of the capitol is a 17-foot-tall, 12-foot-wide brass chandelier made by Mitchell Vance and Company. Keep an eye out for decorative elements, such as an eagle perched on top of the Liberty Bell.  <strong>Visit: </strong>Guided tours are offered Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reservations are encouraged.
<strong>CALIFORNIA STATE CAPITOL AND CAPITOL MUSEUM</strong>  Sacramento, California    <strong>Year completed: </strong>1874  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Neo-Classical  <strong>FYI:</strong> Look for Minerva. You’ll find the Roman goddess pictured in the Great Seal, on tile groupings on the floor, peering down from arches leading to the second-floor rotunda walkway, and the pediment in the building’s exterior. According to myth, Minerva was born fully grown, the way California became a state without first being a territory.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Public tours leave on the hour daily, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
<strong>COLORADO STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Denver, Colorado    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1893  <strong>Architectural style:</strong>  Neo-Classical  <strong>FYI:</strong> In the capitol’s rotunda, 16 stained glass windows depict the state’s “Hall of Fame,” which includes figures such as frontiersman Kit Carson and Alexander Majors, co-founder of the firm that established the Pony Express.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Historical tours leave hourly Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The House and Senate chambers open for tours mid-January to mid-May (from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) Gallery guides are on hand to answer any questions.
<strong>CONNECTICUT STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Hartford, Connecticut    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1879  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Eastlake  <strong>FYI:</strong> An 18-foot bronze statue of a winged woman, titled The Genius of Connecticut, resides in the capitol rotunda. It’s a replacement for the statue that once sat at the top of the capitol dome, but was destroyed by a hurricane in 1938. Lasers scanned the original plaster model to make a mold for the new version.  <strong>Visit: </strong>Weekday tours leave hourly from 9:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. In July and August, a 2:15 p.m. slot opens up.
<strong>DELAWARE LEGISLATIVE HALL</strong>  Dover, Delaware    <strong>Year completed: </strong>1933  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Georgian Revival  <strong>FYI:</strong> In addition to the current government building, you can visit The Old State House in Delaware. The Georgian-style building was the seat of government from 1791 until 1933, when operations moved to their current digs.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Make reservations for guided tours (non-session weekdays, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., in-session weekdays, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.). Additional tours are available the first Saturday of each month and on some holidays.
<strong>SOUTH CAROLINA STATE HOUSE</strong>  Columbia, South Carolina    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1903  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Greek Revival  <strong>FYI:</strong> On the outside of the capitol, six bronze, star-shaped markers denote the spots where the building was hit with artillery during General Sherman’s Civil War march.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Guided tours are offered weekdays, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Reservations are recommended for groups.
<strong>FLORIDA STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Tallahassee, Florida    Year completed: 1977  <strong>Architectural style</strong>: New Classicism  <strong>FYI: </strong>The current 22-story state capitol towers over its predecessor, a Classical Revival building completed in 1845 that is now the Florida Historic Capitol Museum. Try to spot it from the new capitol’s observation deck, located on the 22nd floor, 307 feet in the air.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Self-guided tours are available Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., except for weekday holidays. Groups of 15 people or more can arrange a guided tour during the week.
<strong>GEORGIA STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Atlanta, Georgia    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1889  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Neo-Classical/Renaissance  Revival  <strong>FYI:</strong> The Georgia Capitol Museum, the on-site museum dedicated to the history of the state, has existed within the Capitol walls for just about as long as the building has been around. It moved into its fourth-floor headquarters in 1890.  <strong>Visit: </strong>Reservations are usually required for the weekday guided tours. January through April, they leave at 9:30 a.m, 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., and 1 p.m. From May to December, there are three tours each weekday: 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., and 11:30 a.m. No reservations are required for the day’s last tour, but each time slot has a slightly different focus, so check the website for details.
<strong>HAWAI'I STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Honolulu, Hawaii    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1969  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Hawaiian International  <strong>FYI:</strong> The eight columns in the front and back of the building are supposed to represent the eight islands of Hawaii, and the curved walls of the legislative houses recall the state’s volcanoes.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Scope out the capital on your own on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (except for holidays), or arrange a guided tour through the Governor’s Office of Constituent Services.
<strong>IDAHO STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Boise, Idaho    Year completed: 1912  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Neo-Classical  <strong>FYI:</strong> The Idaho State Capitol has the nickname “The Capitol of Light” for the way architect John E. Tourtellotte used shafts, skylights, and reflective marble to illuminate the interior of the building. Today, it’s the only capitol building heated by geothermal water.  <strong>Visit:</strong> During legislative sessions, you can visit on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5p.m. Visiting hours during the interim are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. Guided tours are available from groups of 10 to 100.
<strong>ILLINOIS STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Springfield, Illinois    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1889  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> French Renaissance  <strong>FYI:</strong> Before it became the site of the capitol, the location—the highest in Springfield—was proposed as a burial place for Abraham Lincoln. Mary Todd Lincoln wanted him buried in the Oak Ridge Cemetery instead.  <strong>Visit:</strong> The capitol is open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Coordinate group tours through the Physical Services department.
<strong>INDIANA STATEHOUSE</strong>  Indianapolis, Indiana    <strong>Year Completed:</strong> 1888  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Renaissance Revival  <strong>FYI:</strong> Many capitol buildings feature a dome or rotunda, but the Indiana Statehouse has three: a rotunda, topped by a smaller dome, with an even smaller sphere at the very top. The room inside the middle dome is painted white so the colors of the stained glass windows reflect on the walls.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Guided tours leave the rotunda on Saturdays at 10:15 a.m., 11 a.m., 12 p.m., and 1 p.m.
<strong>IOWA STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Des Moines, Iowa    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1886  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Renaissance  <strong>FYI: </strong>The Iowa State Capitol has something for fashion lovers as well as history buffs: glass cases inside the first floor of the capitol building display 42 dolls—one for each governor’s wife—wearing a replica of the dress she wore to the inaugural ball.  <strong>Visit: </strong>Guided tours leave Monday through Friday at various times. On Saturdays, tours depart every hour from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
<strong>KANSAS STATE CAPITOL  </strong>Topeka, Kansas    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1903  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> French Renaissance  <strong>FYI:</strong> In 1901, sculptor J.H. Mahoney won a design contest for his 16-foot statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, to be placed on top of the capitol dome. People balked at both the price and the idea of a pagan goddess topping the capitol, so the dome went unadorned until 2002. After a new competition was held, Richard Bergen's bronze Ad Astra—a sculpture of a Kansa warrior—was installed.  <strong>Visit: </strong>Guided tours depart on weekdays: January through May, 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m.; June through August, 10 a.m., 12 p.m., and 2 p.m.; September through December, 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m.
<strong>KENTUCKY STATE CAPITOL  </strong>Frankfort, Kentucky    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1910  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Beaux-Arts  <strong>FYI:</strong> Inside the building, two oil murals by artist T. Gilbert White depict Kentucky’s most famous frontiersman, Daniel Boone. One shows Boone and his party as they first discover the area; the second shows him at the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals, purchasing the land that eventually became the state.  <strong>Visit:</strong> The capitol is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call the office for information on guided tours.
<strong>LOUISIANA STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Baton Rouge, Louisiana    <strong>Year completed: </strong>1932  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Art Deco  <strong>FYI: </strong>You approach the capitol via a grand, 48-step staircase—one stair for every state in the union (with an amendment for Alaska and Hawaii). But don’t let that be the highest you get on your visit. The Louisiana State Capitol has an observation deck on its 27th floor, 350 feet above ground. (It is the tallest state capitol building, after all.)  <strong>Visit:</strong> The building is open from 9 a.m. 4 p.m. daily, except for major holidays.
<strong>MAINE STATE HOUSE</strong>  Augusta, Maine    <strong>Year completed: </strong>1832  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Greek Revival  <strong>FYI:</strong> The portico and front and rear walls are all that remain of the original, 1832 structure (designed by architect Charles Bullfinch). A major remodel in 1909–1910 enlarged the wings of the building and replaced the building’s original dome with a more elongated one.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Arrange a guided tour through the Maine State Museum, or check it out yourself Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
<strong>MARYLAND STATE HOUSE</strong>  Annapolis, Maryland    <strong>Year Completed:</strong> 1797  <strong>Architectural Style: </strong>Georgian  <strong>FYI:</strong> The Maryland State House has been holding government meetings for more than two centuries. The Continental Congress actually met in the building’s Old Senate Chambers in 1783 and 1784.  <strong>Visit:</strong> The capitol is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. except for Christmas and New Year's Day. The Office of Interpretation will arrange specialized, curatorial tours of the building and its artwork.
<strong>MICHIGAN STATE HOUSE</strong>  Lansing, Michigan    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1879  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Neo-Classical  <strong>FYI:</strong> Don’t let the faux marble pillars and walnut wainscoting trick your eyes—decorative painting techniques cover up the fact that the capitol building was made with more inexpensive materials, such as cast iron and pine.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Guided tours are offered Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tour times vary.
<strong>MINNESOTA STATE CAPITOL</strong>  St. Paul, Minnesota    <strong>Year completed: </strong>1905  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Beaux-Arts  <strong>FYI:</strong> Famed architect (and Minnesotan) Cass Gilbert designed the capitol—before he blueprinted the United States Supreme Court building.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Hourly guided tours are available Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 pm; and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
<strong>SOUTH CAROLINA STATE HOUSE  </strong>Columbia, South Carolina    <strong>Year completed: </strong>1903  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Greek Revival  <strong>FYI:</strong> On the outside of the capitol, six bronze, star-shaped markers denote the spots where the building was hit with artillery during General Sherman’s Civil War march.  <strong>Visit: </strong>Guided tours are offered weekdays, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Reservations are recommended for groups.
<strong>MISSISSIPPI STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Jackson, Mississippi    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1903  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Beaux-Arts  <strong>FYI:</strong> There are 750 lights in the capitol's rotunda alone. That makes it easy to see the figure of Blind Justice, as well as scenes of two Indians, a Spanish explorer, and a Confederate general.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Guided tours depart Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
<strong>MISSOURI STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Jefferson City, Missouri    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1917  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Classical Revival  <strong>FYI:</strong>  The first floor of the capitol houses the Missouri State Museum, with exhibits detailing the state’s cultural and natural history. But that's not the only place to find interesting artifacts. In the buildings and around the grounds, look for James Earle Fraser’s 13-foot statue of Thomas Jefferson, Karl Bitter's bronze relief of the signing of the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, a frieze by Alexander Stirling Calder (father of th famed mobile-maker of the same name), and Thomas Hart Benton’s murals of everyday Missouri life.  <strong>Visit: </strong>The Missouri State Museum offers free guided tours every 20 minutes, beginning at the top of the hour, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (except for noon). June through February, tours leave every half hour, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (excluding a 12 p.m. lunch break).
<strong>MONTANA STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Helena, Montana    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1902  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Neo-Classical  <strong>FYI:</strong> When the Capitol underwent an expansion in 1909, a conscious decision was made to feature art by Montana-based artists, including Charles M. Russell  (his Piegans sold at auction for $5.6 million in 2005) and Edgar S. Paxson (known for painting Custer's Last Stand), among others.  <strong>Visit:</strong> The Montana Historical Society offers guided tours. From May through September, tours leave on the hour (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) Monday through Saturday, and from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. From October through April, tours are only on Saturdays and leave on the hour from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. When the legislature is in session (odd numbered years), hourly tours are also offered from January through April, Monday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
<strong>NEBRASKA STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Lincoln, Nebraska    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1932  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Streamline Moderne  <strong>FYI:</strong> Don’t forget to look down. Hildreth Meire’s mosaics decorate both the ceiling and the floor of the building. Although Meire worked on the National Academy of Science in Washington D.C. and St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City, she called the Nebraska capitol her crowning achievement.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Guided tours are available  every hour on the hour (except noon): Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and holidays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
<strong>NEVADA STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Carson City, Nevada    <strong>Year completed: </strong>1871  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Neo-Classical Italianate  <strong>FYI:</strong> After Nevada became a state, the constitutional convention made a provision that no state capitol would be built until after three legislative sessions, in case future leaders wanted to move the center of government away from Carson City. A ten-acre site set aside for the building remained empty. In his book Roughing It, Mark Twain describes the empty plaza as a useful spot for “public auctions, horse trades, mass meetings, and likewise for teamsters to camp in.”  <strong>Visit:</strong> The capitol is open Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (it is closed on weekends). Call the Education Program at the Nevada State Museum to arrange guided tours.
<strong>NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE HOUSE</strong>  Concord, New Hampshire    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1819  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Greek Revival  <strong>FYI:</strong> The stately eagle installed on top of the New Hampshire State House’s dome may look gold, but it’s actually painted wood. The original was removed for preservation and is on display at the New Hampshire Historical Society. A new, gold-leafed eagle was put in its place in the 1950s.    <strong>Visit:</strong> Self-guided tours are available Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Arrange guided tours through the Visitors’ Center.
<strong>NEW JERSEY STATE HOUSE</strong>  Trenton, New Jersey    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1792 (original structure)  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Various  <strong>FYI: </strong>The New Jersey State House has always been a work in progress. The original building was first completed in 1792, and a few extensions were added shortly after. In 1885, a fire destroyed a portion of the State House, which was rebuilt in the Second Empire style with a new rotunda and dome. In the 1890s, a Victorian-style addition was made to the Assembly wing. Then in 1903, the Senate wing was renovated in the American Renaissance style. A four-story office was added three years later; it finally reached its present size in 1911, and so on...  <strong>Visit:</strong> Guided tours leave hourly Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., as well as the first and third Saturday of each month (12 p.m. to 3 p.m.) The State House is closed Sundays and on state holidays.
<strong>NEW MEXICO STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Santa Fe, New Mexico    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1966  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> New Mexico Territorial/Greek Revival  <strong>FYI:</strong> New Mexico’s Capitol is the only one housed in a completely round building, earning it the nickname “The Roundhouse.” When seen from above, the shape is meant to evoke the Zia sun symbol.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Tour the capital on your own Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Guided tours are available by appointment.
<strong>NEW YORK STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Albany, New York    <strong>Year completed: </strong>1899  <strong>Architectural style:</strong> Italian Renaissance/French Renaissance/Romanesque  <strong>FYI: </strong>The Western staircase inside New York’s capitol has been dubbed the “Million Dollar Staircase,” because it cost more than a million dollars to build—in the late-1800s, no less. The 444 steps took 14 years to complete, and more than 500 stonecutters and carvers earned $5 a day to work on the project. The staircase’s main feature is 77 carvings of faces, which include prominent Americans such as Abraham Lincoln and Susan B. Anthony, as well as images of the carvers’ friends and relatives.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Guided tours are available Monday to Friday (excluding holidays). Tour times vary; call the Office of General Services—Visitor Assistance for more information.
<strong>NORTH CAROLINA STATE CAPITOL</strong>  Raleigh, North Carolina    <strong>Year completed:</strong> 1840  <strong>Architectural style: </strong>Greek Revival  <strong>FYI: </strong>The North Carolina State Capitol boasts two impressive statues of George Washington. Outside on the grounds sits a bronze statue cast from a mold of Jean-Antoine Houdon's statue of George Washington in Richmond, Virginia. At the focal point in the rotunda, there's a copy of a statute that stood at North Carolina’s previous state capitol until 1831. The Italian sculptor, Antionio Canova, carved George with a Roman general’s uniform and haircut—and he’s writing in Italian.  <strong>Visit:</strong> Self-guided tours are available Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 pm; and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Guided tours for groups of 10 can be scheduled through Capital Area Visitor Services.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.