Lieutenant Governor, Legislature, One Bad-Ass Marine
By Donovan Martin Sr, Editor in Chief
We honor Winsome Earle-Sears for a lifetime defined by resilience, service, and leadership. Although she was defeated in her bid to become Virginia’s first female governor, her career and impact remain historic, meaningful, and unfinished.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, and raised in the Bronx, we see in Earle-Sears the determination of an immigrant and the discipline of a United States Marine. She served in the 1980s as an electrician in the Marine Corps, rising to the rank of corporal. Those years shaped her sense of accountability, precision, and duty. They didn’t just prepare her for politics — they prepared her for leadership in all its forms.
Her entry into public office was hard-fought and deserved. In 2001, she unseated a long-time incumbent to win a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, proving that authenticity, ground-level engagement, and lived experience can move voters more than political machines. In 2021, we watched her make history when she became Virginia’s lieutenant governor — the first Black woman and the first woman veteran elected to a statewide office in the Commonwealth.
In the 2025 gubernatorial race, she stepped forward once again to challenge history head-on. While former Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger achieved a comprehensive victory, we acknowledge Earle-Sears’ courage in taking on that moment and the doors she helped push wider for women in leadership, especially women of colour.
BlackHistory365 honors her for the totality of her achievements: military service, legislative leadership, advocacy for education reform, support for veterans and first responders, commitment to small business growth, and her unwavering belief in the dignity of work and service. These are real contributions that do not disappear because of one loss.
We also recognize her spirit — steady, grounded, and unbroken. In the Jamaican expression talawa, meaning small but mighty, there is a quiet strength that lives in her story. She is not defined by defeat, but by endurance. She will be alright. And more than that, she will move onward and upward.
We honor Winsome Earle-Sears not as a losing candidate, but as a woman who dared, served, led, and remains a powerful example of resilience, ambition, and unapologetic strength.
Hoorah!
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