Republican Winsome Sears, First Black Woman Elected To Virginia Statewide Office: ‘The Cavalry Has Arrived’

Virginia Lt. Governor-elect Winsome Sears, a Republican, praised the opportunities afforded to her by the U.S. when she came to the country at just six years old as an immigrant from Jamaica, saying that she was living “the American dream.”

Sears, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps., won her election on Tuesday evening to become the first black woman elected to a statewide office in Virginia.

“I am at a loss for words for the first time in my life,” Sears said. ” So, I’m here because of you. I’m here because you voted for me, I’m here because you put your trust in me. That’s the only reason I’m here. Thank you.”

“I say to you, there are some who want to divide us and we must not let that happen,” she said. “They would like us to believe we are back in 1963, when my father came. We can live wherever we want, we can eat where we want, we own the water fountains. We have had a black president elected not once but twice and here I am living proof. In case you haven’t noticed, I am black and I have been black all my life.”