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

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

Immigrant background

Republican politician Winsome Sears. On Nov. 2, 2021, voters in Virginia elected her to be the first female African American lieutenant general in the state's history. | Screengrab: YouTube/Winsome Sears

Sears was born in Jamaica in 1964, with her family moving to the United States around the time she was 6 years old.

“You have to remember, I am still the immigrant. I am not first-generation American; I am still the immigrant. In fact, when I joined the Marine Corps, I was still a Jamaican — I just was willing to fight for America,” said Sears in an interview with WTOP in late October. “America has given my father and me and the rest of my family an opportunity to change our lives.”

Sears recalled how her father “took any job he could find and used that money to put himself through school,” adding that he “started his career, and now he’s comfortably retired.”