EXCLUSIVE: Republican Lt. Governor Winsome Sears from Virginia could make history next year as the nation’s first black woman to win the gubernatorial election.
She would also make history as the first female governor.
But Sears, in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital, emphasized that “I’m not really running to make history. I’m just trying, like I said before, to leave things better than I make them.” have found, and I want everyone to have the same opportunities as me.
Sears, born on the Caribbean island of Jamaica and immigrated to the United States at age six, served in the Marines and is a former state legislator. She made history three years ago when she won election as Virginia’s first female lieutenant governor.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THIS PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC GOVERNOR WHEN HE LEAVES OFFICE IN A YEAR
Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears speaks at a rally to announce that she will seek her party’s nomination for governor of Virginia in 2025 at Chick’s Oyster Bar in Virginia Beach, Virginia, September 5 . (Kristen Zeis/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“We must remember that my father arrived in America in 1763, just 17 days before Dr. King gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech,” she said.
Sears noted that his father “saw an opportunity here, even though…you really couldn’t, as a black man, live where you wanted.”
“And yet here I am, here I am sitting right now as second in command in the former capital of the Confederate States,” she said. “With me, we can see once again that there are still opportunities, still opportunities to grow, still opportunities to do even better. We are going to be better, not bitter. We are not going to be victims . We are winners.
VIRGINIA’S YOUNGKIN APPROVES HER LT. GOVERNOR TO SUCCEED HIM
Sears has a major supporter in the People’s Republican Party Governor Glenn Youngkin, who three years ago became the first Republican in a dozen years to win a gubernatorial election in Virginia, a former swing state that had gone blue in recent cycles.
From left to right: Terrence Sears; Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears; Suzanne Youngkin; Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin; Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares; and Page Miyares hold hands as the governor leads the group in prayer at the State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, January 15, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
But Virginia is unique because of its state law that prevents governors from serving two consecutive four-year terms, so Youngkin cannot run for reelection next year.
Youngkin told Fox News Digital last month that Sears is “going to be a fabulous governor of Virginia.”
“I have to make sure we have Winsome Sears as the next governor,” he stressed. “I’m going to campaign hard.”
Arguing that Youngkin, as a “successful businessman,” has “brought that success to government,” Sears emphasized that “we want to continue what he started.”
“There’s still a lot of work to do, still regulations we need to get rid of, still educational opportunities we need to take advantage of, and I’m the one carrying that, because I was a part of it.” a- she added.
Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states in the country to hold gubernatorial elections the year after the presidential election. For this reason, both contests receive outsized national attention, and Virginia in particular is often seen as a bellwether for the national political climate and what Americans think of the party in the White House.
Sears was interviewed in Virginia Beach on Thursday, with a month to go President-elect Trump returns to the White House.
In late 2022, she described Trump as a liability after Republican candidates the then-former president had supported underperformed in the midterm elections. And she said she would remain neutral in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.
“I supported him in ’16 and ’20, why? Because I saw he was good for our country,” Sears noted.
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But she added that Trump “said certain things, and that bothered me. And like I said, I approach this as a Christian. And so I thought, well, let’s see if he There’s someone else.”
Sears pointed to Trump’s assassination attempt in July as the moment that changed his mind.
“I was waiting for a change, and after he was shot and accepted the nomination, I heard him say, ‘Miracles happen every day. I’m one of them. God me.’ spared his life. And so, humbly, I asked for your vote. I was on board at that time,” she stressed.
Former President Trump is joined by his wife Melania after his speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
But one of Trump’s top supporters in Virginia, conservative radio host John Fredericks, continued to criticize Sears.
“She’s going to ruin Republicans’ chances in Virginia in 2025, and we need a different Republican candidate who REALLY supports President Trump,” he argued last month on his radio show and in a post on social networks.
Asked if she would like Trump to campaign with her over the next 10 months leading up to the 2025 election, Sears replied: “I I think he’s going to have a lot to do in Washington DC. And if he wants to come here, fine. If he wants to help, fine. I mean, you know, we could use all the help we can get. »
THIS DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATOR IS RUNNING FOR VIRGINIA GOVERNOR
Sears, who launched his gubernatorial bid in early September, avoided a competitive primary when Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares announced last month that he would seek re-election rather than run for governor.
Three-term Democrat Representative Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer, is her party’s candidate for governor.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, the Democratic candidate for governor, speaks at a campaign rally in Virginia Beach, Virginia, November 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston, file)
Spanberger announced 13 months ago that she would run for governor in 2025 rather than seek re-election to Congress this year. While a showdown between Sears and Spanberger in the general election is expected, recent reports indicate that longtime Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott is mulling a run for governor.
“We’ll see what happens on the Democratic side, but I’ll take on whoever comes along, because I believe we have the best policies,” Sears said.
She is considered by political experts to be more socially conservative than Youngkin, who hails from the business wing of the GOP.
When asked if Sears was too right-wing for Virginia voters, Youngkin responded in his Fox News Digital interview, saying, “Not at all. And Winsome is a common-sense conservative leader. We’re partners literally from day one. We campaigned together. We were elected together.
But the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), highlighting criticism of Fredericks, who chaired Trump’s Virginia campaign in 2016 and 2020, argued that “Virginia Republicans are entering the 2025 elections divided and already publicly denouncing Winsome Sears.
“This once again confirms that Sears will have to move even further to the right and adopt positions that are deeply harmful and out of touch with reality to win the GOP nomination,” said DGA National Press Secretary Devon Cruz.
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Sears, when asked about the DGA’s criticism, which also highlights its positions on issues such as abortion and IVF, argued that “the Democrats are trying to find a way to hit me…I don’t “Don’t worry. I’ll let them say what they want to say. I’ve proven I’m doing the right thing.”
“I always said I was a Christian first and a Republican second. That’s still what I am,” she added. “So that must mean I don’t care about politics. I care about service.”