Virginia’s conservative black lieutenant governor wants top job | The Times Of Update

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Lt. Gov. The seductive Earle-Searsthe first black woman to hold statewide 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 accepted the necessary paperwork for Earle-Sears to run for governor next year, WRIC was the first to report.

Earle-Sears is the first Republican to officially enter the race for the party’s 2025 nomination. She recently said she was considering a run.

The current governor, Republican Glenn Youngkin, cannot run for re-election because Virginia is the only state This does not allow governors to run for consecutive terms.

U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger is the only Democrat is currently seeking his party’s nomination to run for governor.

Earle-Sears was part of a republican victory top positions in 2021 that also saw the election of Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares.

A Marine veteran who immigrated to the United States from Jamaica as a child, Earle-Sears defeated Democrat Hala Ayala to become the second woman in Virginia’s long history to hold statewide office. Attorney General Mary Sue Terry, elected in 1985, was the first.

A staunch conservative who speaks frequently about her Christian faith, Earle-Sears has already made history as a woman in politics.

She entered politics in 2001, when she surprised both parties by defeating a 10-term incumbent Democrat in a predominantly blue district, becoming the first black Republican woman elected to the House of Delegates.

She served only one term before deciding not to run again. She also unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott in a race that the Associated Press described at the time as “a campaign of raw invective.”

Earle-Sears went on to serve on the State Board of Education and, most recently, as national chairwoman of an organization dedicated to the reelection of former President Donald Trump. She also led a men’s prison ministry, was director of a women’s homeless shelter and ran a plumbing and electrical supply business.