Winsome Sears: 5 facts about Virginia's first black female lieutenant governor

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Wednesday, November 03, 2021

A General Assembly milestone

Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin speaks with Virginia Republican candidate for lieutenant governor Winsome Sears during an election night event at the Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles on November 02, 2021, in Chantilly, Virginia. Virginians went to the polls Tuesday to vote in the gubernatorial race that pits Youngkin against Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

In 2001, Sears accomplished a different pioneering milestone when she became the first African American female Republican to be elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.

To accomplish this, Sears pulled an upset win against 20-year incumbent Delegate Billy Robinson, Jr. of Norfolk. She went on to serve one term, which went from 2002-2004, and then ran a failed congressional campaign.

“I thought we would go right into our agenda and get things done. With my rookie status they let me know, ‘No, we have to sing Kumbaya and have peace in the valley across the aisle,’” she recounted in an interview with The Virginia Mercury in August.

“Now I’m hearing that it’s not like that at all, there’s no civility, bills are just killed … you can see that in the various bills that they’re passing, they’re passing wholesale one side or the other. And that’s not good, that’s not good for our Commonwealth.”