Earle-Sears was born in Kingston,Jamaica,on March 11,1964. She immigrated to the United States at the age of six,brought by her father who had already immigrated to the U.S.[4][5] She grew up in the Bronx,New York City.[6]
In 2011,Governor Bob McDonnell appointed Earle-Sears to the Virginia Board of Education,succeeding Ella Ward.[20][21] She served as the board's vice president in 2014,succeeding Betsy Beamer.[22] Earle-Sears was succeeded as vice president by Billy K. Cannaday Jr.[23][24] In 2015,Earle-Sears retired from the board and was succeeded by Wes Bellamy.[25][26]
In September 2018,Earle-Sears ran as a write-in candidate for the US Senate after Corey Stewart won the Republican nomination,citing his past alliances with white nationalists and other racial controversies.[27] She received less than 1% of the vote.[28]
Following the 2022 United States elections,during which Trump-endorsed Republicans lost in critical battleground states,Earle-Sears criticized Trump,calling him a liability for the party and saying she would not support him running again in the 2024 United States presidential election.[30] Earle-Sears later changed her position,announcing her support after Trump was named the presumptive nominee in 2024.[31]
On May 11, 2021, Earle-Sears won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor of Virginia on the fifth ballot, defeating former state delegate Tim Hugo 54% to 46%.[11] On November 2, she won the general election, along with gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin and attorney general nominee Jason Miyares.[32] She was inaugurated as the 42nd lieutenant governor of Virginia on January 15, 2022. She is Virginia's first female lieutenant governor, as well as the first Black female to hold the office.[2][3]
During the election campaign, she declined to say whether she had been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2,[33] but encouraged others to get vaccinated.[34]
While speaking at an Arlington County School Board meeting to oppose the system's "transgender locker room and bathroom policies", Earle-Sears was targeted by a racist sign in a crowd of protesters outside the venue.[36] It read, "Hey Winsome, if trans can't share your bathroom, then Blacks can't share my water fountain."[37] All three Democratic nominees for statewide office denounced the sign, with Earle-Sears's opponent, Abigail Spanberger, stating, "No matter how much one might find someone else's beliefs objectionable, to threaten a return of Jim Crow and segregation to a Black woman is unacceptable."[36][37]
In August 2025, VPM News, a National Public Radio affiliate for the Greater Richmond Region, submitted a FOIA request for Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears's schedule and records, which are required to be kept and preserved permanently. Her office provided a mostly blank, 297-page PDF file, excluding about 297 records and citing exemptions for "confidential correspondence and working papers of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor".[38] A follow-up FOIA submission clarifying and broadening the request went unanswered within the legally required timeframe.[38]
Earle-Sears opposes abortions. During her 2021 campaign for lieutenant governor, Earle-Sears stated she would support legislation similar to the Texas Heartbeat Act, which would ban abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected (i.e., as early as six weeks).[5] On the campaign trail, she called abortion "genocide" and stated she supported making abortion illegal in all cases unless the mother's life was at risk.[39] Later in her 2021 campaign, WRIC-TV wrote that Earle-Sears "appeared to backtrack" on her initial comments about the Texas Heartbeat Act.[40] She told WRIC-TV she had not reviewed the Texas law and declined to specify when abortion should be banned.[40] After becoming lieutenant governor, Earle-Sears said that abortion should be allowed in cases of rape, incest, and to prevent harm to pregnant women.[41] When Roe v. Wade was overturned in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in June 2022, she announced her support for a 15-week abortion ban.[42] Audio obtained by The Guardian captured Earle-Sears implying that consenting to sex is equivalent to consenting to pregnancy, saying that women "need to make our choices before we’re pregnant, not, you know, after.”[43]
In 2025, Earle-Sears signed Virginia’s pending constitutional amendment on reproductive rights while adding a handwritten note expressing her personal opposition to it.[44]
Cannabis
In 2021, Earle-Sears expressed support for medical marijuana legalization but opposed the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.[45][46] Earle-Sears has said that adult-use cannabis "will destroy us"[47] and has described marijuana as a gateway drug.[48] During her campaign in 2021, Earles-Sears has stated that she fired one of her employees for using marijuana, “I had to let somebody go who worked for me, found out he was on marijuana, ‘you can’t work for me, you’re gonna destroy somebody’s home, you’re gonna crash, it’s gonna decimate us, because marijuana is a gateway drug … There is no hope in that, there is no future.’"[48]
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
Earle-Sears has argued, "Slaves did not die in the fields so that we could call ourselves victims now in 2025; Democrats think minorities can't succeed without DEI", highlighting Virginia as "the former capital of the Confederacy".[49]
Economy
In 2022, Earle-Sears supported Youngkin's 90-day gas tax holiday proposal.[50]
In 2025, Earle-Sears pledged to eliminate the car tax during her gubernatorial run.[51] She also pledged to eliminate taxes on tips at the state level during the campaign.[52]
Earle-Sears has argued that critical race theory (CRT) was "definitely being taught in some form or fashion" in Virginia schools and accused critics of using "semantics" to deny it.[57][bettersourceneeded] Earle-Sears called CRT "racist" and said that the good and bad of American history should be taught.[3][58]
After the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted schooling in the state, Earle-Sears suggested the possibility of year-round school or longer school days to make up lost educational time.[59]
Earle-Sears supports gun rights.[40] During her 2021 campaign for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, Earle-Sears faced scrutiny over a campaign image depicting her holding a rifle on a campaign sign—a portrayal she defended amid the ensuing controversy.[63]
Personal life and business career
Earle-Sears is married to Terence Sears.[64] She is the mother of three children, one of whom died, along with two of her grandchildren, in a car accident in 2012.[65] As of 2016, she resided in Winchester, Virginia, with her family.[66] She is a Christian,[67] and author of a Christian self-help book entitled Stop Being a Christian Wimp! published in 2009.[68][41]. She wrote another book, published in 2023, titled How Sweet It Is: Defending the American Dream.[69]
Earle-Sears opened a plumbing, electrical, and home appliance business in Virginia after her 2004 election loss.[5] As the owner of Shenandoah Appliance Plumbing and Electric,[70] Earle-Sears has argued online with individuals who have left negative customer reviews on Google and Yelp.[71] During the COVID-19 pandemic, she closed the company and blamed the government’s response to the pandemic, along with staffing challenges. The business received over $102,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans, which were forgiven.[71]
↑ Earle-Sears, Winsome (February 5, 2022). "Winsome Earle-Sears column: Creating a better education for Virginia's next generation". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved February 17, 2022. We can do that with an Education Savings Account, by utilizing the Virginia Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credit, and by opening more charter schools, lab schools and virtual schools.
Italics indicate next-in-line of succession for states and territories without a directly elected lieutenant governor or whose lieutenant governor office is vacant:
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