Government | Politics 2023: WINSOME EARLE-SEARS

Earle-Sears wanted to be a lawyer, but after being accepted to law school, she had a change of heart, she says, and then “life got in the way.” Instead, she served in the U.S. Marine Corps, was elected to a term in the House of Delegates, managed a homeless shelter and spent a decade as owner of Shenandoah Appliance, Plumbing & Electric.

A Republican, she is the first Black woman elected to statewide office in Virginia and the state’s first female lieutenant governor.

In June, after a mass shooting outside a downtown high school graduation, Earle-Sears criticized Richmond leaders for not being able to keep the city safe, and blamed gangs for area violence. Democrats criticized her, pointing out that Earle-Sears delivered a keynote speech defending firearms rights during the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Houston, days after the mass shooting deaths of 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

MOST VALUED POSSESSION: U.S. passport and my family photos. When I lost some possessions after a nor’easter, I decided then that possessions are temporary.

HISTORIC PERSON I WISH I COULD BE: Daniel. How does one withstand lions?