Report: Virginia’s Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears Files to Run for Governor

The conservative Republican lieutenant governor of Virginia, Winsome Earle-Sears, is planning to run for governor in 2025.

Virginia governors are limited to one term, so Gov. Glen Youngkin will not be running.

Earle-Sears filed a statement of organization form on Wednesday, according to documents from the state’s Department of Elections, 13 News Now reported on Thursday.

She is expected to make the announcement at a Virginia Beach rally on Thursday evening:

Her website offered more details about her background and experience:

Winsome Earle-Sears, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, immigrated to the United States at the age of six. She is proud to have served in the United States Marine Corps. In addition to her various appointments, she has served as the Vice President of the Virginia State Board of Education; and as a presidential appointee to the US Census Bureau, as co-chair of the African American Committee; and the Advisory Committee on Women Veterans to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Winsome was first elected in 2002 to a majority Black House of Delegates district, a first for a Republican in Virginia since 1865. She is the first female Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the first Black female elected statewide, and the first naturalized female elected to statewide office. She is also the first female Veteran to be elected to statewide office.

During a campaign event in 2022 for Republican candidates Karina Lipsman and Jim Myles, who were challenging Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA) and Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Earle-Sears tore into Democrat ideology and President Joe Biden’s (D) administration, Breitbart News reported.

“They’re gonna continue not prosecuting the people that they need to. They’re gonna continue this no cash bail. They’re gonna continue all of these things that we hate,” she said.

“They’re gonna continue separating us from our children. Parents! We’re not giving up our kids to the government. Not in this lifetime, we’re not. They’re our children, we are their first teachers, and we will raise them!” Earle-Sears added.

In March 2023, Earle-Sears said parents and conservatives are in the middle of the “new Brown vs. Board of Education” fight for school choice, Breitbart News reported.