PERSON: Winsome Sears

U.S. State Government of Virginia

Lieutenant Governor

Winsome Sears (née Earle; born March 11, 1964) is an American politician serving as the 42nd lieutenant governor of Virginia. A member of the Republican Party, Sears served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2002 to 2004. She also served on the Virginia Board of Education, and she ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives in Virginia’s 3rd congressional district in 2004 and for U.S. Senate in 2018. In 2021, Sears was elected lieutenant governor of Virginia.

Sears is the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor of Virginia and is the first woman of color and first Jamaican-born American citizen elected to statewide office in Virginia.

EaSears was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on March 11, 1964. She immigrated to the United States at the age of six. She grew up in The Bronx, New York City.

Sears earned an A.A. from Tidewater Community College, a B.A. in English with a minor in economics from Old Dominion University and an M.A. in organizational leadership from Regent University.

Sears served as an electrician in the United States Marines from 1983 to 1986. Before running for public office, Sears directed a Salvation Army homeless shelter.

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