{"id":1398914,"date":"2022-03-24T16:00:12","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T20:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1398914"},"modified":"2022-03-24T16:00:20","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T20:00:20","slug":"our-message-is-working-virginia-lt-gov-winsome-sears-on-school-choice-republican-landslides-and-achieving-the-american-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/our-message-is-working-virginia-lt-gov-winsome-sears-on-school-choice-republican-landslides-and-achieving-the-american-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Our Message Is Working\u2019: Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears On School Choice, Republican Landslides, And Achieving The American Dream"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">38<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Four-message-is-working-virginia-lt-gov-winsome-sears-on-school-choice-republican-landslides-and-achieving-the-american-dream%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1398914&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/03\/Winsome-Sears.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>Virginia Republicans shocked the nation last November when they flipped their state \u2014 which Biden won in 2020 with an eight-point margin \u2014 firmly to the GOP. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Republican Glenn Youngkin comfortably defeated Democratic contender Terry McAuliffe for the governorship, and Republicans clinched a majority in the Virginia House of Delegates.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Many stories emerged in the Virginia elections that will define national races in 2022 and beyond \u2014 most importantly, the central role of education and other \u201ckitchen-table issues\u201d that matter to American households. However, the elections were also marked by the emergence of a new conservative hero. A gun-toting, ex-Marine, Jamaican-American, business-owning, mother-of-three named Winsome Sears won the lieutenant governorship \u2014 becoming the first black woman in Virginia to attain statewide office in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In an interview with The Daily Wire, Sears detailed her rise to stardom, her policy priorities, and how her victory could be replicated across the nation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018The American Dream\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>In her own words, Sears \u201ctook the hard road\u201d to public office.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Her father left Jamaica for the United States with only $1.75 in his pocket at the height of the civil rights movement \u2014 17 days before Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his landmark \u201cI Have A Dream\u201d speech. Despite the challenges still faced by black people, Sears\u2019 father took any job he could find, put himself through school, and brought his young daughter to America. Today, he is \u201ccomfortably retired because he achieved the American dream.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSo this is not my country necessarily, not my culture,\u201d Sears explained. \u201cAnd yet I am second in command here in Virginia.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sears won her first election in 2001 by defeating a 20-year Democratic incumbent for a seat in the House of Delegates. She has since served on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs\u2019 Advisory Committee on Women Veterans and the Virginia Board of Education. Before running for office, however, Sears led a men\u2019s prison ministry and a women\u2019s shelter, aiding with \u201clong-term transition to help them get back on their feet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018We Are The New Messengers\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>Youngkin is the first Republican to hold the Virginia governor\u2019s office since 2013, and Democrats controlled the House of Delegates, Senate, and governorship in both 2020 and 2021. Sears observed that when Democrats have \u201cthat kind of control,\u201d they just \u201crun with it\u201d \u2014 but also noticed that they \u201cwent a bridge too far.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhen you\u2019ve got girls being in the same bathrooms as boys, and then rapes happen, then that\u2019s a problem. And when you\u2019re not trying to fix it \u2014 when you\u2019re lying to the parents about these things \u2014 that\u2019s a problem,\u201d Sears said, referring to Loudoun County Public Schools appearing to conceal a sexual assault against a ninth-grade girl by a boy wearing a skirt, as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/loudoun-county-schools-tried-to-conceal-sexual-assault-against-daughter-in-bathroom-father-says\"><span>exclusively revealed by The Daily Wire<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhen you\u2019re trying to pit the races against each other, then that\u2019s another problem. When the children aren\u2019t learning anything, period, that\u2019s another problem,\u201d she continued. \u201cWhen you have the masks on in school, and it\u2019s really affecting children inordinately\u2026 that\u2019s another problem that the Democrats had.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThese were problems that were building up for the Democrats, and they weren\u2019t listening,\u201d Sears said. \u201cWe are the new messengers. We brought the new message that the people wanted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sears hopes that the Virginia Senate \u2014 which is still controlled by the Democrats \u2014 will \u201cget on board\u201d alongside Republicans as they forward the interests of the electorate. In any case: \u201cThey\u2019re three years old with their message. Ours is the newer message that the people want.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThere are certain things that I\u2019m about. I\u2019m not going to be giving those away,\u201d she said. \u201cBut you know, on certain things, you have to have a give and take in order to get done what you want.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Although Sears affirms that she \u201ccan be congenial\u201d and will \u201cchoose to say \u2018No\u2019 the nicer way until you show me that that\u2019s not going to work,\u201d she has earned a penchant for her blunt communication style. Beyond the viral campaign <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nypost\/status\/1455966499445817344?s=20&#038;t=q_NfZ0_k3SkorRx3kB7d7w\">photo<\/a> in which she brandished a large rifle, Sears recently drew national attention for using her <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/winsome-sears-improvises-after-someone-takes-her-gavel-resourcefulness-never-underestimate-it\"><span>high-heeled patent leather pump<\/span><\/a><span> to bring the Virginia Senate to order after a prankster stole her gavel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>At the same time, she recognizes that her party will likely be unable to \u201cget the whole shebang\u201d while the Senate remains hostile. \u201cDemocrats, as I said before, when they get the ship, they run. And now we\u2019re having to try to get rid of some of the things that they have put forward. We can\u2019t get the votes for it, because the votes just aren\u2019t there. So I would hope that the folks give us some grace and understand that until we can change things, we get what we get and we\u2019ll come back next year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018Your Child, Your Choice\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>During their first days in office, Virginia Republicans began to undo elements of the progressive agenda established by their predecessors. Youngkin <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/youngkin-cleans-house-at-state-diversity-office\"><span>cleaned house<\/span><\/a><span> in the state\u2019s diversity office, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/glenn-youngkin-outlines-his-plan-to-make-virginias-education-system-number-one-in-nation\"><span>signed an executive order<\/span><\/a><span> nixing the use of Critical Race Theory in government schools, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/youngkin-delivers-on-promises-in-first-week\"><span>began investigating<\/span><\/a><span> Loudoun County Public Schools, among other actions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When asked about the issues plaguing government schools, Sears affirmed that she wants parents \u201cto have school choice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIf the parents want to continue to send their children to public schools, that\u2019s fine. Your child, your choice. If you want to send them to charter schools, which is a public school, that\u2019s fine. Your child, your choice,\u201d she declared. \u201cYou want private school, you want parochial schools, you want homeschool, whatever it is\u2026 let the parents make that choice for their children.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cCompetition is healthy,\u201d Sears noted. \u201cI mean, what are they afraid of? What are the teachers\u2019 unions afraid of? If you\u2019re doing a good job, that\u2019s wonderful. But if not, and parents decide that they\u2019re going to send their children elsewhere, then who are you to stand in the door and block that parent from choosing that for their child?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sears noticed that critics of school choice are inconsistent in their arguments about state financing. \u201cThe pushback is, \u2018Well, they don\u2019t want public money going towards private entities.\u2019 But wait a minute, let\u2019s examine that. You have SNAP food benefits. Now isn\u2019t that public money going towards private grocery stores? The government doesn\u2019t have a grocery store that it tells the people, \u2018You can only use your food voucher at the government grocery store.\u2019 When it comes to Section 8 \u2014 we know that that\u2019s public money going to private landlords\u2026 You see? So there is a problem there. And none of it makes any sense.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018We Need To Come Together\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>In a recent interview with the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/richmondfreepress.com\/news\/2022\/jan\/13\/im-tired-fighting-people-who-look-me\/\"><span>Richmond Free Press<\/span><\/a><span>, Sears lamented that she is \u201ctired of fighting people who look like me.\u201d Similarly, when a black Republican in the House of Delegates was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/winsome-sears-proposes-starting-the-youre-not-black-enough-caucus-after-gop-delegate-is-barred-from-black-caucus\"><span>barred from joining the black caucus<\/span><\/a><span>, Sears had multiple pithy suggestions for new coalitions \u2014 such as the \u201cYou\u2019re Not Black Enough Caucus\u201d and the \u201cWatch the Trolls Come Out Caucus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When asked to elaborate on her sentiment, she again mourned that \u201cthe people sometimes who come against me the most are the people who look like me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI\u2019m fighting for everybody. I\u2019m fighting for black people, white people, Asians, Latinos, I\u2019m fighting for everybody. I want everybody to have a fair shake,\u201d Sears said. \u201cWe know that in math, for example, by the time children in Virginia reach the eighth grade, 35% of Asian children can\u2019t do math. 45% of white children, 70% of Latino children, and 84% of black children can\u2019t do math by the time they\u2019re in the eighth grade.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSo the problem that folks have is not that I\u2019m a black Republican \u2014 the problem they have is that our children aren\u2019t learning. That\u2019s what we need to fight. We need to come together and fight for our children to get the best education possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The need for educational excellence is heightened by the rising hegemony of Russia and China. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to figure it out, come together, learn to get along, learn to love each other so that we can remain the number one superpower in the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018Our Message Is Working\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>Sears believes that her party\u2019s success in Virginia is indicative of what\u2019s coming for the rest of the nation because \u201cparents are always going to fight for their children.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cPeople from all around the country are saying, \u2018We now know that we too can achieve the same results that you had.\u2019 Look at what happened in San Francisco. San Francisco recalled three people from their school board, and the mayor \u2014 who is a Democrat, and who is black \u2014 was agreeing to that, led the effort to do that. That was a shocker.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhen you\u2019re seeing bastions of Democrat leadership who are sounding more and more Republican \u2014 then you know our message is working,\u201d she observed. \u201cIn fact, when President Biden gave his State of the Union speech, I could have sworn to you\u2026 I thought he was a Republican governor, or at least a Republican candidate for governor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cYou know, people are understanding that common sense left the building, and they\u2019re going to vote her back in. And that happens with voting Republicans back in.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Virginia Republicans shocked the nation last November when they flipped their state \u2014 which Biden won in 2020 with an eight-point margin \u2014 firmly to the GOP. Republican Glenn Youngkin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":273,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1398914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/273"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1398914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1398914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1398914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1398914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}