Winsome Earle-Sears

Winsome Earle-Sears (born March 11, 1964) is an American politician, businesswoman, and Marine Corps veteran serving as the 42nd lieutenant governor of Virginia since 2022. A member of the Republican Party, she is Virginia's first female lieutenant governor and the first woman of color to hold statewide office in Virginia.

Born in Jamaica, Earle-Sears immigrated to the United States in 1970. She served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2002 to 2004. She also served on the Virginia Board of Education, and ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in Virginia's 3rd congressional district in 2004 and for U.S. Senate in 2018. In 2021, Earle-Sears was elected lieutenant governor of Virginia, narrowly defeating Democratic nominee Hala Ayala.

Earle-Sears is the Republican nominee in the 2025 Virginia gubernatorial election, becoming the second African American female major-party gubernatorial nominee, after Stacey Abrams. She will face former U.S. representative and Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger. If elected, Earle-Sears would be the first Black woman in American history to serve as governor of a U.S. state, and the first female governor of Virginia.