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Republican Winsome Sears defeated Democrat Hala Ayala in Virginia’s lieutenant governor race.
Sears is the primary Black lady elected to a statewide workplace in Virginia.
Ayala is a state lawmaker within the Home of Delegates and Sears is a former legislator.
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Former Republican Del. Winsome Sears defeated Hala Ayala, a Democratic member of the Virginia Home of Delegates in Tuesday’s race for Virginia’s lieutenant governor. Polls closed in Virginia at 7 p.m. ET.The candidates:Sears, made historical past as the primary Black Republican lady elected to the Home in 2002 after she ousted the 20-year Democratic incumbent of Virginia’s ninetieth District, William Robinson. A Jamaican immigrant, she additionally turned the primary naturalized US citizen to serve within the Home. In 2004, Sears unsuccessfully challenged longtime Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia’s third Congressional District. She took one other run at federal workplace in 2018 as a write-in different to Republican senatorial candidate Corey Stewart, however misplaced that race.
Sears is a former US Marine, former vp of the Virginia State Board of Training, and a former director of a ladies’s homeless shelter. Her marketing campaign sought to create extra jobs, decrease taxes, and likewise strengthen the state’s colleges.Ayala, for her half, ran to handle entry to inexpensive healthcare, to assist staff and small companies of their COVID-19 financial restoration, and to strengthen Virginia’s schooling system. A local Virginian, Ayala identifies as Afro-Latina, with roots in North Africa, El Salvador, Lebanon, and Eire. She’s been concerned in politics by way of numerous stints: as a volunteer for then-President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection marketing campaign, an organizer of the primary Girls’s March in Washington, DC, and an appointee on former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s Council of Girls. Earlier than getting into politics, she was a longtime cybersecurity specialist on the Division of Homeland Safety.Ayala ran for Virginia’s 51st Home District in Prince William County in 2017 and defeated Wealthy Anderson, a four-term incumbent Republican. She turned one of many first two Hispanic ladies elected to the Home. In December 2020, she launched her bid for lieutenant governor, asserting that she wouldn’t search reelection for her Home seat.
The stakes: Ayala was on a ticket with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe and Legal professional Basic Mark Herring whereas Sears ran alongside GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin — who’s Virginia’s new governor — and Republican Del. Jason Miyares for legal professional common. These three statewide races pose essentially the most vital electoral take a look at but of the Democratic Celebration’s power within the commonwealth since President Joe Biden took workplace in January. Sears makes historical past as the primary lady of coloration to be elected to statewide workplace in Virginia, the place politics have traditionally been dominated by white males. And whereas the lieutenant governor’s election has gotten far much less consideration than the gubernatorial race, the outcomes will set the tone in Virginia politics for years to return.
As Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar College of Coverage and Authorities at George Mason College, just lately wrote in The Washington Submit: “The winner is a possible tiebreaking vote on important coverage points, subsequent within the line of succession to steer the commonwealth and fairly often a future gubernatorial nominee.”
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