RICHMOND, VA — Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-SearsThe first Black woman to hold statewide office in Virginia’s long history has officially set her sights on the state’s highest political office.
The Virginia Department of Elections on Wednesday accepted the necessary documents for Earle-Sears to run for governor next year. WRIC was first to report.
Earle-Sears is the first Republican to officially enter the race for the party’s 2025 nomination. He said he recently looked into his candidacy.
Because the current governor, Republican Glenn Youngkin, cannot run for re-election Virginia is the only state it does not allow governors to run for consecutive terms.
U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger is the only Democrat He is currently nominating his party run for governor.
It was part of Earle-Sears Republican sweeper In 2021, Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares were elected to the top offices.
Earle-Sears, a Marine veteran who immigrated to the United States from Jamaica as a child, defeated Democrat Hala Ayala to become the second woman in Virginia’s long history to serve in statewide office. Attorney General Mary Sue Terry, elected in 1985, was the first.
Earle-Sears, a staunch conservative who speaks frequently of her Christian faith, has previously made history as a woman in politics.
She began elected office in 2001 when she stunned both parties by defeating a 10-term Democrat in a heavily blue district to become the first Black Republican woman elected to the House.
He served only one term before deciding not to seek re-election. He also unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott in a race that The Associated Press described at the time as a “crude sabotage campaign.”
Earle-Sears went on to serve on the State Board of Education and, more recently, as the national chair of an organization dedicated to re-electing former President Donald Trump. He also led a men’s prison ministry, served as director of a women’s homeless shelter, and ran a plumbing and electrical company.
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