Earle-Sears was born in Kingston,Jamaica,on March 11,1964. She immigrated to the United States at the age of six.[4] She grew up in the Bronx,New York City.[5]
In September 2018,Earle-Sears entered the race for U.S. Senate as a write-in candidate after Corey Stewart won the Republican nomination,citing his past alliances with white nationalists and other racial controversies.[20] She received less than 1% of the vote.[21]
Following the 2022 midterms,where 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 presidential election.[23] Despite this,Earle-Sears later reversed herself,declaring her support after Trump became the presumptive nominee in 2024.[24]
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%.[9] On November 2, she won the race, along with gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin and attorney general nominee Jason Miyares.[25] 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 statewide officeholder in the Commonwealth.[2][3]
During the election campaign, she declined to say whether she had been vaccinated against COVID-19,[26] but encouraged others to get vaccinated.[27]
On September 5, 2024, Earle-Sears announced her candidacy for governor of Virginia in 2025.[28]
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 protesting Democrats outside the venue.[29] It read, "Hey Winsome, if trans can’t share your bathroom, then Blacks can’t share my water fountain."[30] A Democratic Party consultant criticized Arlington Democrats for not confronting the woman holding the sign, and 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."[29][30]
Political positions
Abortion
During her 2021 campaign for lieutenant governor, Earle-Sears said she would support legislation similar to the Texas Heartbeat Act, which would make an abortion illegal as soon as a fetal heartbeat was detected (as early as six weeks).[17] 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.[31] Later in her 2021 campaign, WRIC-TV wrote that Earle-Sears "appeared to backtrack" on her initial comments about the Texas Heartbeat Act.[32] She told WRIC-TV she had not reviewed the Texas law and declined to specify when abortion should be banned.[32] After becoming lieutenant governor, Earle-Sears said that abortion should be allowed in cases of rape and incest, or to prevent harm to a pregnant woman.[33] 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.[34][35]
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."[38]
Economy
In 2022, Earle-Sears supported Glenn Youngkin's 90-day gas tax holiday proposal.[39]
In 2025, Earle-Sears pledged to eliminate the car tax during her gubernatorial run.[40] She also pledged to eliminate taxes on tips at the state level during the campaign.[41]
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.[46][bettersourceneeded] Earle-Sears called CRT "racist" and said that the different facets of American history should be taught.[3][47]
After COVID-19 interrupted schooling in the state, Earle-Sears floated the possibility of year-round school or longer school days to make up lost educational time.[48]
LGBT rights
Earle-Sears has stated she is "fine" with civil unions.[49] She opposes same-sex marriage.[50] On 1 May 2025, Earle-Sears signed HB 174, a law requiring officials to issue marriage licenses regardless of sex, gender, or race, but added a note saying she was "morally opposed" to it.[51]
Gun policy
Earle-Sears supports gun rights.[32] During her 2021 campaign for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor of Virginia, 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.[52]
Personal life
Earle-Sears is married to Terence Sears.[53] She had three children. One of her children died in a 2012 car crash, along with her two grandchildren.[54] As of 2016, her family and she resided in Stephenson.[55] She is a Christian,[56] and authored a Christian self-help book, Stop Being a Christian Wimp!, before entering politics.[57][33]
↑ 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.
↑ "If Critical Race Theory means that telling a child that once you emerge from the womb you are a racist and a colonizer and whatever else, that's not going to be good. That's going to create morale problems for everybody. ... If we're going to teach about African American history, why just keep it to one month? Let's teach it throughout. Let's talk about these things. You can't escape history. Let's talk about the good, the bad and the ugly." (Duster/CNN, 2021)
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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