RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the first black woman to hold state office in Virginia’s long history, has officially set her sights on the state’s highest political office.
The Virginia Department of Elections on Wednesday approved the paperwork necessary for Earle-Sears to run for governor next year, WRIC first reported.
Earle-Sears is the first Republican to formally enter the race for the party’s nomination in 2025. She recently said she is exploring a run.
The current governor, Republican Glenn Young, cannot run again because Virginia is the only state that does not allow governors to run for consecutive terms.
U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger is the only Democrat currently seeking her party’s nomination for governor.
Earle-Sears was part of a 2021 sweep of top Republican offices that also saw Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares elected.
A Marine veteran who immigrated to the United States from Jamaica as a child, Earle-Sears defeated Democrat Hala Ayala to become only the second woman in Virginia’s long history to hold the statewide office. Attorney General Mary Sue Terry, elected in 1985, was the first.
A staunch conservative who often speaks of her Christian faith, Earle-Sears has made history as a woman in politics before.
She entered elected office in 2001 when she stunned both parties by defeating a 10-term Democrat in an overwhelmingly blue district, becoming the first black Republican woman elected to the House of Representatives.
He served only one term before deciding not to seek re-election. He also unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Representative Bobby Scott in a race that the Associated Press described at the time as a “campaign of brutal harassment.”
Earle-Sears continued to serve on the state Board of Education and, more recently, as the national chair of an organization dedicated to re-electing former President Donald Trump. He has also led a men’s prison ministry, served as director of a women’s homeless shelter, and managed a plumbing and electrical company.
