Black woman runs for Virginia governor but where’s the coverage?
- Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is running next year
- She would be the first Black female governor in Virginia
- Coverage has been light; is it because she’s Republican?
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(NewsNation) — A Black woman wants to be the governor of the state that once was home to the capital of the Confederacy, but news of her historic announcement has been difficult to find.
“This is a big story, and it’s been mentioned twice on cable news in the last 24 hours,” NewsNation contributor and Mediaite founding editor Colby Hall said Friday.
Virginia’s Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears announced her candidacy at a rally this week. The race for Virginia’s unique one-term governorship will be decided Nov. 4, 2025.
“Racial politics are a complicated beast. Very often, mainstream media uses identity as a cudgel to promote their own allies, whereas, where there is someone with a political difference, it doesn’t count. It’s clearly a double standard,” Hall told NewsNation’s “On Balance.”
Earle-Sears has already made history as the first Black woman to be elected to statewide office. She was also the first Republican to be elected to a majority-Black district in the state House of Delegates.
Earle-Sears will face at least one primary opponent. Freelance investigative journalist Merle Rutledge was the first Republican to declare his candidacy. Three-term Rep. Abigail Spanberger is the lone Democrat in the race so far.
