By ohtadmin | NY Carib News
On Tuesday, former Virginia delegate Winsome Sears won
the Republican Party nomination for lieutenant governor, after becoming the
first Black Republican woman elected to the Virginia Assembly some 20 years
ago.
Sears beat five other candidates, including two — former
Delegate Tim Hugo from Fairfax County and Virginia Beach Delegate Glenn Davis —
who were far more active in recent GOP politics.
After the win, she said, “I want you to look at me
because you’re seeing a walking impossibility,” she said. “My father came to
this country with $1.75 — from a different culture, a different country,
achieved the American Dream. And now I stand before you as an immigrant to say
thank you for letting my father in, because it changed the trajectory of our
lives…God bless this great country. Let us keep America America, because
there’s no place else to run to.”
Sears was born in Jamaica and served in the Marines. She
served a single term representing parts of Hampton Roads in the House of
Delegates, winning election in 2001. She did not seek re-election and now
resides in the Winchester area.
“Winsome Sears is the strong, principled leader Virginia
needs to serve as our next Lieutenant Governor. As a mother and a former
Marine, she built her own successful small business,” said Senate Republican
Leader Thomas K Norment Jr, Republican-James City, and his fellow Senate
leaders in a joint statement Tuesday night. “Winsome made history when she was
elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. Now, she is poised to make history
again.”
In her campaign, she highlighted her more recent work as
national chairperson for Black Americans to Re-Elect President Trump.
Sears, a onetime director of a Salvation Army homeless
shelter — was a rising star in the state Republican Party in 2001, after she
defeated longtime Democratic delegate William P. Robinson Jr. (Norfolk) for his
seat.
She served one term in the House, among other things
fighting for legislation that would have allowed parents to use public funds to
home-school their children or send them to a private school — a cause she again
championed in her campaign for lieutenant governor.
With Sears’s nomination, the party’s statewide ticket is
complete. Miyares was named the candidate for attorney general, while Glenn
Youngkin was declared the winner of the gubernatorial nomination Monday.
She will preside over the Senate and taking over as head
of the state’s executive branch if the governor resigns or becomes
incapacitated.
