A Black Woman, A Republican, an Immigrant, a Veteran

Virginia Lt. Governor-Elect Winsome Sears and Virginia Governor-Elect Glenn Youngkin. Courtesy of Youngkin for Governor at a campaign event in Middletown, Virginia, August 10, 2021.

As might be expected, much of the Virginia election hoopla was focused on Glen Youngkin’s impressive win over Terry McAuliffe. Less ballyhooed, but in many ways even more inspiring, was the election of Winsome Sears as Virginia’s Lt. Governor. Ms. Sears is many things, but Americans, especially Virginians (often assailed as White Euphemists), have to be especially proud that she is female and black, the first to be Lt. G. in Virginia’s 400-year legislative history.

James Freeman in the WSJ attempts to sketch what a perfect resume would be for a person entrusted with this political power:

. . . the ideal biography might include service to country and community, an appreciation for America’s unique opportunities, practical experience in creating wealth, and an understanding of the challenges in preparing for future prosperity.

As a six-year old, Winsome Sears immigrated to the United States from Jamaica. Before entering politics, Sears, who owns an appliance and plumbing repair store in Virginia, was director of a Salvation Army homeless shelter.

Like her running mate, Glen Youngkin, Ms. Sears thinks public education should not be a vehicle for political indoctrination. Ms. Sears previously served as vice president of the Virginia Board of Education.

An aptly named Winsome Sears uses an adage from her church to explain what America is:

I may not be what I’m supposed to be, but I ain’t what I used to be.

We are not back in 1963, when my father arrived at the height of the Civil Rights Movement and things were very bad for us as Black people.”

Are there changes that need to be made? Most assuredly. There is no country in this world that does not suffer from racism. . . . But you have seen people who are dying to cross the border into America because they know that if they can get their foot on American soil, the trajectory of their lives will change—as it did for my father.

CRT Creates Problems for Everybody

If Critical Race Theory means that telling a child that once you emerge from the womb you are a racist and a colonizer and whatever else, that’s not going to be good. That’s going to create morale problems for everybody. If we’re going to teach about African American history, why just keep it to one month? Let’s teach it throughout. Let’s talk about these things. You can’t escape history. Let’s talk about the good, the bad and the ugly.”

In terms of policy, Antonio Olivo explained in the Washington Post what Virginia voters could expect from Ms. Sears.

A victory for Sears would bring to the executive branch a pragmatic conservative who during her campaign worked to expand the Republican Party by bringing in voters of color who agreed with her stances against abortion and for gun owners’ rights . . .

Her political career began in 2001, when as a young former U.S. Marine, Sears beat a long-term Democratic incumbent in a predominantly Black Norfolk district by, among other things, promising voters that state-funded school vouchers could help their children get a better education.

Sears served just one term in the House, where she sponsored a 2002 ban on Ku Klux Klan-style cross burnings in Virginia that got around a state Supreme Court ruling the previous year that found the practice was protected under the First Amendment.

Ms. Sears could soon be playing a decisive role on key issues in Virginia, alerts Mr. Freeman, “since the lieutenant governor casts tie-breaking votes in the state senate.” According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, “The current lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, broke more than 50 tie votes during his term.”

Pollster Scott Rasmussen found that Virginians, just like voters in other states, “have achieved another strong bipartisan consensus, and it is not at all in line with the opinions of national leaders in the Democratic Party.”