On Wednesday, the Virginia Department of Elections officially processed and accepted Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears’s application for the gubernatorial race in 2025, positioning her as the inaugural Republican contender for this position, based on information from WRIC, Nexstar’s station in Richmond.
In anticipation of this milestone, Sears and her team had announced plans for a “special announcement” on Thursday, the day following the confirmation of her candidacy. Her entry into the race marks a significant moment as she is the pioneering Republican to declare her intentions, following the announcement of gubernatorial ambitions by Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia in November 2023.
The 2021 election cycle, in which Sears succeeded in her pretense for lieutenant governor while Glenn Youngkin secured the governor’s office, was a notable event for the Republican Party in Virginia, as it happened only a year subsequent to President Joe Biden’s victory over former President Donald Trump in the state’s presidential contest.
Before Sears’s 2021 victory, the position of lieutenant governor had not been held by a Republican since William Bolling, who initially took office in 2006 and remained until 2014. Her immediate predecessors in office, Ralph Northam and Justin Fairfax, were affiliated with the Democratic Party.
Despite Youngkin’s narrow victory margin of two points in the gubernatorial race of 2021, he is ineligible for immediate re-election due to the state’s prohibition against consecutive terms for governors.
Rep. Spanberger, presently representing Virginia’s 7th district, has sparked interest with her gubernatorial run, potentially setting the stage for a vigorously contested battle for her congressional seat, a sentiment echoed by the AP. The congresswoman managed a win over her Republican opponent Yesli Vega in the 2022 race for the House seat by a margin of 4.6%, as per the exit polls reported by CNN.
