Winsome Earle-Sears
Winsome Earle-Sears (born March 11, 1964) is an American politician and Marine Corps veteran serving as the 42nd lieutenant governor of Virginia.[16] In September 2018, 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.[18] During the 2020 United States presidential election campaign, Sears supported Donald Trump and was national chairwoman of the PAC "Black Americans to Re-elect the President.[22] On May 11, 2021, Sears won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor of Virginia on the fifth ballot, defeating former state delegate and second-place finisher Tim Hugo 54% to 46%.[27] Later in her 2021 campaign, WRIC-TV wrote that Sears "appeared to backtrack" on her initial comments about the Texas Heartbeat Act.[28] After Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Sears announced her support for a 15-week abortion ban.[34] Politifact rated as "False" Glenn Youngkin's claim that critical race theory has "moved into all of our schools in Virginia."The site found that, though CRT had been discussed among educators, it was not part of the state's "Standards of Learning", and several school districts denied teaching it to students.