by John Reid

Being a part of history is nothing new to Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, who looks to do it again next year.

After becoming the first Black woman to win the Lieutenant Governor seat in 2021, it was announced she has filed paperwork for a gubernatorial run in 2025. Already she has begun promotion of her campaign, according to Virgina Scope’s Brandon Jarvis’ X page:

The Democratic Party of Virginia Chairwoman Susan Swecker shared the following statement:

“Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears has dedicated more time to boosting her far-right profile as an extremist on Newsmax and Fox News than actually addressing the needs of hard-working Virginians. If elected governor, she’d unleash her radical agenda: outlawing abortions, rolling back gun safety measures, dismantling LGBTQ+ rights, gutting healthcare for millions, and slashing funding for public schools. Her vision for Virginia? A divisive, toxic leadership that hurts the middle-class and tears us apart instead of bringing us together.”

Earle-Sears, who spoke with the PW Perspective during her Lieutenant Gubernatorial campaign, is no stranger to controversy. According the DPVA statement, below are some stances from her record:

• Sears claimed that after a woman becomes pregnant the baby is not her body, saying, “she’s got her own body” and “the blood running through the veins of the baby don’t belong to her, it’s not her blood.”
  Sears has tried to base her staunch anti-choice extremism on the widely debunked conspiracy theory that abortion clinics “sell baby parts.”
  Sears has supported extreme abortion bans — similar to the Texas law banning abortion as early as six weeks.
• Sears has long supported stripping funding from public schools to funnel into unaccountable private and charter schools, leading the most recent legislative push to do so. 
• Sears is a longtime opponent of LGBTQ+ rights, previously running on her proud opposition to marriage equality.

Earle-Sears joins Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger and Merle Rutledge as candidates for the gubernatorial race as of this time.