Dr. Sesha Moon has been appointed as the new head of Virginia's Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), returning the agency to its roots despite efforts by Republican Gov. Abigail Spanberger to reform it. The state's latest budget dedicates more than $1.8 million to the DEI office annually for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, larger than the annual budget for the governor's office. The office's budget roughly equals that of “Adjudicatory Research, Planning, and Coordination” at the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission. Despite efforts by former Republican Glenn Youngkin to replace the “equity” in its title with “opportunity,” Democrats rejected his proposal to divert funds from DEI to the general governor’s office fund. Legislators are now considering another $3.6 million for the office over the next two fiscal years after Democrats won the legislature and governorship in 2025. Moon's liberal credentials include Harvard University's “DEI Pioneer Award, a degree in African-American studies from Virginia Commonwealth University and being the first Black queer woman to establish an endowed scholarship fund in university history.