Jamaica-born Winsome Earle-Sears hoping to continue making history in Virginia
Published:Monday | October 20, 2025 | 12:09 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer
With less than two weeks to go before voters cast ballots in the Virginia governor’s race in the United States (US), Jamaica-born Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running on the Republican Party’s ticket, hopes she will continue her history-making political career in that state
Earle-Sears is running for governor of Virginia state and a win for her will make her the first Jamaica-born individual to be elected governor of any state in the US.
Early voting in Virginia began on September 19 and will run until November 1.
Earle-Sears will face off against Democratic Party candidate Abigail Spanberger, a former US representative, in the November 4 general election.
Both Earle-Sears and Spanberger were unopposed in winning their respective party’s nomination. Levar Stoney, who first began a challenge to Spanberger, dropped his bid and decided to run for election as lieutenant governor.
This will mark the first time that Virginia will see a contest for governor between two female candidates. Virginia has never had a female governor in its history.
The current governor, Glenn Youngkin, is prohibited from running in the upcoming elections under the state’s constitution.
Should Earle-Sears win in November, she would not only become the first woman and first Jamaica-born person to hold the position of Viriginia governor, but also the first person of colour.
Earle-Sears was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1964. She immigrated to the United States at the age of six. She grew up in the Bronx, New York City, and later served in the US armed forces.
Earle-Sears earned an associate degree from Tidewater Community College, a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in economics from Old Dominion University and a master’s degree in organisational leadership from Regent University.
Marine veteran
She served as an electrician in the US Marines from 1983 to 1986 and, before running for public office, directed a Salvation Army homeless shelter.
In November 2001, Earle-Sears upset 20-year Democratic incumbent Billy Robinson while running for the 90th district seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates, becoming the first Jamaican woman, first female veteran, and first naturalised citizen delegate, to serve in the body. In 2004, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi appointed her to the US Department of Veterans Affairs’ Advisory Committee on Women Veterans.
In 2004, Earle-Sears unsuccessfully challenged Democrat Bobby Scott for Virginia’s 3rd congressional district seat. She received 31 per cent of the vote.
Sears opened a home appliance business in Virginia after her 2004 election loss.
Governor Bob McDonnell appointed Sears to the Virginia Board of Education in 2011.
In September 2018, Earle-Sears entered the race for US senate as a write-in candidate after Corey Stewart won the Republican nomination, citing his past alliances with white nationalists and other racial controversies. She received less than one per cent of the vote.
During the 2020 United States presidential election campaign, Earle-Sears supported Donald Trump and was national chairwoman of the PAC ‘Black Americans to Re-elect the President’.
On May 11, 2021, Earle-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 per cent to 46 per cent.
On November 2, 2021, she made history when she won her race along with gubernatorial candidate,Youngkin, and attorney general candidate Jason Miyares. She is the first Jamaican-born woman and woman of colour to hold the position as lieutenant governor of Virginia.
She is hoping to continue making history by winning the November general elections.
Called trump a liability
In Virginia, Earle-Sears has been endorsed by the outgoing governor and the Virginia Republican Party, but has not been endorsed by President Donald Trump or the Republican National Committee.
After Republicans heavily underperformed and Trump-endorsed candidates lost in critical battleground states in the 2022 midterms, Earle-Sears criticised Trump, calling him a liability for the party, and said she would not support Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
The sitting lieutenant governor, she was inaugurated as the 42nd lieutenant governor of Virginia on January 15, 2022. She is the first female lieutenant governor of Virginia as well as the first black woman lieutenant governor and statewide officeholder in the Commonwealth.
During the election campaign, she declined to state whether she had been vaccinated against COVID-19 but she encouraged others to get vaccinated.
Apart from the posts of governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, all 100 seats in the Virginia House of delegates will be up for election.