The year 1963 proved to be pivotal in the life of the future Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Winsome Earle-Sears.
In 1963, the United States was in the midst of the social and political tumult of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. In June 1963, Democrat Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, infamously blocked the doorway of the University of Alabama to prevent two Black students from registering for classes. Also in June, Black civil rights activist Medgar Evers was assassinated in Mississippi.
In August, thousands of Americans gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his immortal, “I Have a Dream” speech. Then in November, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Despite the social and political upheaval occurring across the United States, it was also in 1963 that Winsome’s father chose to immigrate from Kingston, Jamaica to the U.S. seeking a better life for himself and his family. According to Sears, when her father arrived in the U.S. in August 1963, he had $1.75 left in his pocket.
“And yet, my father came,” said Sears, “He believed in America.” Her father eventually brought Winsome to the U.S. when she was six years old.
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In 2021, Winsome Earle-Sears was elected Lt. Governor of Virginia. She is the first female Lt. Governor of Virginia.
“In no other country is my story even possible,” said Sears, who was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1964.
Sears was in Overland Park, Kansas, October 14 at Fiorella’s Event Space to deliver a keynote address entitled “Living the American Dream.” The Kansas Black Republican Council hosted the event.
“The American Dream has had to be fought for at every step,” Sears told the sold-out crowd.
Sears cited hard-fought victories over the course of American history, including civil rights, the rights of non-landowners, women, veterans, the disabled, as well as education and voting rights and today’s fight for the rights of biological female athletes.
“All of this is the American Dream,” she said. “The American Dream is a continual fight. It’s a fight for options.”
Sears’ political career has been marked by a series of “firsts.” According to the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia’s website, Sears was first elected in 2002 to a majority Black House of Delegates district, a first for a Republican in Virginia since 1865. Sears is the first Black female elected statewide. She is the first naturalized female citizen elected to state office, and she is the first female Veteran elected to statewide office.
In September, Sears announced her candidacy for the 2025 Governorship of Virginia. If elected, Sears would become Virginia’s first female Governor and the first Black woman elected Governor in the United States.
Realizing that the Republican Party was more in line with her ideals and principles, (“Oh my God, I’m a Republican!”) Sears switched from the Democrat to the Republican Party in 1988. Sears has gone on record as pro-life. She supports the second amendment and school choice. She does not support teaching CRT (Critical Race Theory) in schools, an academic concept that views racism as systemic, and she does not support relegating poor families to public schools.
“We’ve got to move on,” said Sears. “I want political power for everybody.”
Sears said in order for Republicans to get their message out and reach prospective voters, they need to leave their comfort zones, and reach out, for example, to Black neighborhoods, churches and businesses.
“You’ve got to advertise,” she said. “We’ve got to go get them.”
According to Sears’ website, “Education has been and continues to be a focus of the Lieutenant Governor.”
Sears previously served as Vice President of the Virginia State Board of Education. Sears told the Overland Park audience that education lifted her and her family out of poverty.
After immigrating to the U.S., Sears grew up in the Bronx, New York. She served in the U.S. Marines from 1983 to 1986 as an electrician and diesel mechanic. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English and a minor in Economics from Old Dominion University. She earned a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership from Regent University.
Sears said that if elected, her top priority as Governor of Virginia would be parental school choice. “I don’t co-parent with the government. I make the decisions.”
Sears is married to Terence Sears. Together, they have two daughters, Katia and Janel. A third daughter, Dejon, and two granddaughters, Victoria and Faith, all perished in a car accident in 2012. Dejon had suffered from mental illness, and the tragedy has made Sears a passionate advocate for mental health.
Sears has also led a men’s prison ministry and served as director of a women’s homeless shelter for the Salvation Army.
The Kansas Black Republican Council was organized in 1966 to promote a more complete and accurate history of the Republican Party. The KBRC is in the business of empowering the African American family and our nation, through the election of Republican leaders who adhere to the principles of limited government, individual freedoms and responsibilities, free enterprise and traditional Christian values.
–Lorraine Jessepe | Metro Voice
Photo from Kansas Black Republican Council