Winsome Sears Should Be Trump’s Veep
Donald Trump should choose Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears as his running mate to boost his chances of winning in November and to have a qualified Veep by his side to govern.
Sears is a fierce advocate of educational choice and … said education is a “new redline.”
Sears has not come up in any reports of Trump’s top contenders for Vice President, but she can be the key to securing victory. She is the first female Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and the first Black woman lieutenant governor and statewide officeholder in the state. Just as President Biden picked Harris to appeal to black and women voters, Trump also has a chance to choose a black female, but not because she is black and female. Sears is widely respected due to her character, experience, and policy chops. (READ MORE: What’s the Matter with Virginia?)
Sears is a former Marine, has directed a Salvation Army Homeless Center, served as a state legislator and Vice President of the Virginia State Board of Education, owned a business and is a trained electrician. She also received presidential appointments to the Advisory Committee on Women Veterans to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Census Bureau, where she co-chaired the African American Committee.
Polls are showing Trump gaining and even tripling his support from African Americans compared to 2020. While Sears should be chosen primarily for her competence, it is an added benefit that she can solidify and increase black support, as well as help Trump appeal to the key voting bloc of suburban women.
The probable reason she has not been among those mentioned as a Veep contender is because of her critical comments about Trump after the 2022 elections. In a Fox Business interview, while applauding Trump’s policies, especially as they related to Black Americans, Sears said she could not support him again because “the voters have spoken, and they’ve said they want a different leader.” This is heresy in Trump world.
However, before the 2022 elections, Sears supported Trump and was even the national chair of the Political Action Committee “Black Americans to Re-elect the President.” Like many other Republicans that were not squarely in Trump’s corner after the 2022 midterm election results, Sears has seemed to come back home to the former President as he crushed the GOP primary field this year.
Immediately after his guilty verdict in the New York case, Sears questioned, “Where was the case against Hillary Clinton for wiping her servers. Where is the case against President Biden with his involvement in Hunter Biden’s business deals with China and Russia.” She also pointedly noted that after the 2016 election where Trump defeated Clinton, polls showed that “65% of Democrats said they didn’t believe the election was free and fair” to combat the Democrat narrative that Trump is an “election denier.”
States Where Sears Can Help
Virginia is the obvious place Sears can help put Trump over the top to become only the second President to serve non-consecutive terms. The only Commander-in-Chief to accomplish this was Grover Cleveland, who was our 22nd President from 1885-1889 and the 24th from 1893-1897. In 2020 Biden won Virginia by ten points but current polls have him tied with Trump. A Fox News poll of Virginia voters conducted June 1-4 had Biden and Trump tied at 48 percent each. Sears would have a strong chance of helping put the Old Dominion State’s thirteen Electoral college votes in the GOP column.
Also, a New York win would all but guarantee a Trump return to the White House. Astoundingly, polls now show him within single digits of Biden. The Bronx-raised Sears would also be a boost to Trump there.
Selecting Sears would also show Trump choosing a critic after her 2022 comments. While not akin to selecting Nikki Haley, it would demonstrate the 45th President is willing to go outside his comfort zone to appeal to a wider base of support.
Sears is a fierce advocate of educational choice and in a recent New York radio interview with John Catsimatidis on WABC radio said education is a “new redline — if you live in a neighborhood that’s your school and your school only, only the rich have choice and can live in that same neighborhood but send their child somewhere else.” She also noted the hypocrisy of many Democrats who oppose school choice for all but send their own children to private schools. This is the perfect message and messenger to appeal to a large swath of voters in purple and blue states. (READ MORE: Virginia’s Bishops Speak Out Against Euthanasia)
Trump met with the Governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, for the first time a couple of weeks ago. In fact, Youngkin has been rumored to be on the list of Vice Presidential contenders. Youngkin said the pair did not discuss his joining the ticket. We should take him at his word, and perhaps the real purpose was to discuss Sears, who is the strongest choice to help Trump make history, just like Grover Cleveland.
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