Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears files to run for governor in 2025

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears (R) filed paperwork this week to run for governor next year in the state. 

Sears’s paperwork was accepted Wednesday by Virginia’s Department of Elections, according to Nexstar’s Richmond affiliate WRIC. The Hill is owned by Nexstar Media Group.

The development comes after Sears’s team said Wednesday she would make a “special announcement” Thursday in Virginia Beach. 

Sears is the first Republican to jump into the off-year race that likely will dominate campaign news next year. Late last year, Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) launched her campaign for the governor’s mansion. 

The lieutenant governor, who is a former state delegate, is the first woman of color and second woman to hold statewide office in Virginia. The commonwealth has never had a female governor, making a potential Sears versus Spanberger match-up historic. Sears would also be the first Black female governor in U.S. history.

Sears and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) made waves in the political universe in 2021 when they flipped the blue-leaning state one year after President Biden’s general election victory over former President Trump. Youngkin and Sears focused their campaign on what they called parents’ rights in education, zeroing in on curriculums in public schools. 

However, Democrats have since seen a number of victories in off and on year elections. In 2022, most swing district Democrats, except for former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), kept their seats. And in 2023, Democrats maintained their majority in the state Senate and flipped the House of Delegates.