Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears has filed paperwork to run for Virginia governor in 2025.
Lt. Gov. Earle-Sears’ statement of organization – paperwork needed to launch a campaign – was accepted by the Virginia Department of Elections on Sept. 4.
Earle-Sears was expected to jump into the governor’s race and recently acknowledged she was exploring a run. She is the first Republican to submit paperwork to run for the party’s nomination in the 2025 election.
Last November, U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) officially launched her campaign for the Democratic nomination in next year’s gubernatorial race. Spanberger is the only Democrat currently vying for the nomination after Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney dropped his bid to run for lieutenant governor.
Earle-Sears is the first woman of color, and only the second woman, to hold statewide office in the commonwealth.
A former state delegate who represented Norfolk, Earle-Sears presides over the Virginia Senate in her role as lieutenant governor. Earle-Sears, the first Black Republican woman to be elected to the Virginia General Assembly, emigrated from Jamaica when she was a child and served in the Marines before running for office.