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] She later declared her support for Trump after he became the presumptive nominee.[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]
Political positions
Abortion
During her 2021 campaign for lieutenant governor, Earle-Sears said she would support legislation similar to the TexasHeartbeat 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.[29] Later in her 2021 campaign, WRIC-TV wrote that Earle-Sears "appeared to backtrack" on her initial comments about the Texas Heartbeat Act.[30] She told WRIC-TV she had not reviewed the Texas law and declined to specify when abortion should be banned.[30] 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.[31] 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.[32] Audio obtained by The Guardian captured Earle-Sears implying that consenting to sex is equivalent to consenting to pregnancy.[33]
Earle-Sears has argued that "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" and highlighted Virginia as "the former capital of the Confederacy."[37]
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.[43][bettersourceneeded] Earle-Sears called CRT "racist" and said that the different facets of American history should be taught.[3][44]
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.[45]
LGBT rights
Earle-Sears has stated she is "fine" with civil unions.[46] She opposes same-sex marriage.[47] 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.[48] In a survey conducted by Public Advocate of the United States, a conservative organization, Earle-Sears completed a candidate questionnaire in which she expressed opposition to same-sex adoption and workplace protections for gay people, and described homosexuality as an “immoral lifestyle choice".[49]
Gun policy
Earle-Sears supports gun rights.[30] During her 2021 campaign for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor of Virginia, Winsome 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.[50]
Personal life
Earle-Sears is married to Terence Sears.[51] She has had three children. One of her children died in a 2012 car crash, along with her two grandchildren.[52] As of 2016, she and her family resided in Winchester.[53] She is a Christian,[54] and authored a Christian self-help book, Stop Being a Christian Wimp!, before entering politics.[55][31]
↑ 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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