Democrats in the Virginia state Senate derailed a hearing on Monday after the state’s lieutenant governor absentmindedly responded “yes sir” to an inquiry from deep-voiced Sen. Danica Roem, a man who believes he is a woman.
“Madam president, how many votes would it take to pass this bill with the emergency clause?” Roem asked Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, a Republican, about a mundane bill that was being voted on.
“That would be four-fifths,” replied Sears, who as lieutenant governor presides over the Senate.
“And what would be the exact number for that madam president?” Roem added.
“Yes, sir, that would be 32,” Sears said as she looked through papers. “Those in favor of that motion shall record their votes aye,” she said, calling the vote.
Roem stormed out and missed the vote. A shout could be heard as he was leaving, though it wasn’t clear who made the sound or what it said.
After the vote, Sears recognized Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/virginia-dems-could-lose-control-of-state-senate-because-one-of-its-members-may-have-lied-about-her-residence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ghazala Hashmi</a>, whose turn it was to describe the next bill. But Hashmi would not speak. Several Democrat senators began leaving the room. Sen. Scott Surovell then said, “I think I’d ask that we take a recess for five minutes.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WATCH: Virginia Lt. Governor Winsome Sears calls trans Sen. Danica Roem ‘sir’ and Roem storms out of the chamber
“I’m not here to upset anyone. I am here to do the job the people of VA have called me to do,” said Lt. Gov. Sears. <a href="https://t.co/QUshPogqDJ">pic.twitter.com/QUshPogqDJ</a>
&mdash; Breaking911 (@Breaking911) <a href="https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1762248338252931346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Seven minutes later, the body reconvened, and Sears said, “The chair again recognizes Sen. Hashmi, the senator from Chesterfield.” Hashmi again refused to speak, and Sears put the Senate back in recess.
Three minutes later, the hearing resumed, and Sears appeared irritated but measured.
“I said something that upset Sen. Roem. Let it be known I am not here to upset anyone. I am here to do the job that the people of Virginia have called me to do and that is to treat everyone with respect and dignity. I myself have at times not been afforded that same respect and dignity, but in this body and as long as I am president of the Senate and by the grace of God, I will be treated with respect and dignity and I will treat everyone else with respect and dignity.”
She said she frequently calls people by the wrong names, noting that she had just mistakenly put “the House” into recess instead of the Senate. “I apologize. And I would hope that everyone would understand there is no intent to offend.”
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Hashmi finally discussed the bill.
The Democratic Party of Virginia refused to accept Sears&#8217; apology, writing on X, &#8220;We will not forget this smear.&#8221;
Earlier this month, Hashmi’s education committee <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+vot+S04V0110+SB0037" target="_blank" rel="noopener">killed</a> Sage’s Law, a bill passed by the House of Delegates last session that would prevent schools from hiding a child’s gender transition from their parents. It is named after Sage, a girl who was trafficked from rural Virginia to Baltimore and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mother-of-sex-trafficked-teen-files-lawsuit-after-girl-was-held-in-boys-group-home-to-affirm-her-trans-identity">raped by a registered sex offender</a> after going through trouble at school that her parents knew nothing about, and after school staff allegedly repeatedly encouraged her to transition. After the FBI rescued her from the sex trafficker, Baltimore placed her into a group home full of Baltimore&#8217;s roughest male youths. After her mother rescued her, she later said she was not actually transgender.

Sen. Danica Roem / Virginia Senate

Virginia Democrats Derail Hearing After Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears Says ‘Yes, Sir’ To Transgender Senator

Gender Pronouns

Politics

Pronouns

Social Issues

Transgender

Virginia

Winsome Sears

Virginia&#8217;s lieutenant governor, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/winsome-sears" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Winsome Sears</a>, called Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson a diversity hire while discussing Jackson&#8217;s dissent to the court&#8217;s affirmative action decision on Thursday.
The Supreme Court ruled against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina’s affirmative action policies in a decision that will have a profound effect on the admissions processes at universities across the country.
Fox News host Martha MacCallum asked Sears how she would respond to Jackson and the other dissenting justices, who argued the court&#8217;s decision was a step back for equality.
“Well, what you have is a justice who was chosen because she’s black and because she’s a woman,” Sears said. &#8220;That&#8217;s what we&#8217;re understanding now, what a woman is.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Winsome Sears on Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson:
&quot;What you have is a justice who was chosen because she&#39;s black and because she&#39;s a woman&#8230;&quot; <a href="https://t.co/v12L6gqHLH">pic.twitter.com/v12L6gqHLH</a>
&mdash; Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1674496686561849350?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 29, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
Sears added that the state of education in the country is at a crisis level.
“While we’re playing these stupid games, I’m saying that education and the lack of it in America is risen to a national crisis. China is not playing these stupid games. China is interested in total world domination, and so is Russia and the rest of them. That’s what we have to be concerned about. Our children are not learning.&#8221;
Sears mentioned the large portion of college students who need remedial education within their first year. As many as 60% of college students are placed in remedial courses during their first year, costing $1 billion a year, <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/remedial-education/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Center for American Progress, which leans left.
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&#8220;I’m pulling for school choice. School choice now. Our children are in need,&#8221; Sears said.
&#8220;The slaves did not die in the fields so we could be saying in this century that we are victims,&#8221; Sears said later in the Fox segment. &#8220;They would say to us, &#8216;Is that what we died for? No. We died for you to have an opportunity. Take it. You have that.&#8217; We have had a black president.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WINSOME SEARS: &quot;The slaves did not die in the fields so we could be saying, in this century, that we are victims&#8230;They would say to us, is THAT what we died for?! No. We died for you to have an opportunity. Take it! You have that!&quot;
&quot;If you are a victim, that means you need a… <a href="https://t.co/hXO6UCAOmC">pic.twitter.com/hXO6UCAOmC</a>
&mdash; Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1674497399631278091?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 29, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The affirmative action case landed before the Supreme Court after a group called Students for Fair Admissions <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/scotus-hinting-it-might-throw-out-affirmative-action-used-in-college-admissions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued</a> the two elite schools, accusing them of unfairly factoring race into their admissions processes. The group pointed to the high test scores of Asian American and white applicants who were rejected.
The Supreme Court <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-issues-landmark-ruling-on-affirmative-action-at-universities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruled</a> that the race-based admissions programs at Harvard violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the University of North Carolina violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The court voted six to three in the University of North Carolina case and six to two in the Harvard case. Justice Jackson, a Harvard graduate and former Harvard board member, recused herself from the Harvard case.
“Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,” Chief Justice John Roberts <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in the opinion for the majority.
“Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. But, despite the dissent’s assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today,” the court’s opinion stated.
Justices Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor both penned dissents.
In her dissent, Jackson called the majority&#8217;s decision &#8220;truly a tragedy for us all.&#8221;
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&#8220;Although formal race-linked legal barriers are gone, race still matters to the lived experiences of all Americans in innumerable ways, and today’s ruling makes things worse, not better,&#8221; Jackson wrote.
&#8220;If the colleges of this country are required to ignore a thing that matters, it will not just go away. It will take longer for racism to leave us. And, ultimately, ignoring race just makes it matter more,&#8221; she added.
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Virginia Gubernatorial Election Night At The Glenn Youngkin Headquarters

Winsome Sears Calls Ketanji Brown Jackson A Diversity Hire

Affirmative Action

Education

Ketanji Brown Jackson

SCOTUS

Supreme Court

U.S.

Virginia Lt. Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/winsome-sears" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Winsome Sears</a> (R-VA) said it was ridiculous for people to be concerned about “misgendering” the woman who murdered six people at a Christian school in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nashville" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nashville</a> this week. 
Sears made the comments during Friday’s episode of “Real Time with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/bill-maher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bill Maher</a>” where she appeared on a panel alongside journalist and author James Kirchick. 
“This person murdered six people, I don’t really care who you say you are. You murdered six people, and three of them were children. You don’t get a say. Well, she&#8217;s dead now, but you don’t get a say in telling us who you are and what you’re about. You killed six people,” Sears said. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;They are misgendering and dead naming the murderer. They are referring to the murderer by their given name and not their chosen name. &#8230; If someone says they&#39;re a man they&#39;re a man.&quot;
&quot;This person murdered 6 people. I don&#39;t really care who you say you are.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/AYqQ1s0wc6">pic.twitter.com/AYqQ1s0wc6</a>
&mdash; Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricAbbenante/status/1642001819395145729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Sears was referring to the 28-year-old woman who shot six people at The Covenant School in Nashville, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tennessee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tennessee</a>, on Monday. Officials have still not announced a motive for the shooter, who identified as transgender, but they have described the shooting as targeted.
In the days following the shooting, media outlets like The New York Times and USA Today <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/legacy-media-scramble-to-recover-claim-police-misidentified-gender-of-nashville-shooter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scrambled</a> after claiming that police had “misidentified” the gender of the shooter. 
“There was confusion later on Monday about the gender identity of the assailant in the Nashville shooting,” the Times <a href="https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1640508409542848519" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “Officials had used ‘she’ and ‘her’ to refer to the suspect, who, according to a social media post and a LinkedIn profile, appeared to identify as a man in recent months.”
Sears made her comments after Kirchick said that some in the media had not followed their own rules, but continued to identify the shooter as female despite the self-identification as a male. 

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“If you noticed, they are misgendering and deadnaming the murderer, right. They are referring to the murderer by their given name, not their chosen name, and referring to her as a woman, as opposed to what her identity apparently was as a man, which is not the way the media usually does these things,” he said. “They are usually very particular about the subjective sense of gender identity and respecting that. If someone says they’re a man then they’re a man, but in this case they&#8217;re not doing that.”
Sears, who won an upset electoral victory in Virginia alongside Governor Glenn Youngkin, later said that parents deserved more say over the education of their children.
“I’m a parent, I’m a parent all day. I get to decide what happens in my child’s life, not you, not the government, not anybody. I don’t co-parent. I had this child, I’m responsible for this child. If anything happens to little Johnny, you’re calling me. If  I don’t want my child given lap dances at school by a drag queen, I don’t want it done.”

Virginia Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Glenn Youngkin Holds Election Night Rally

Winsome Sears Slams Concerns Over ‘Misgendering’ Nashville School Shooter

Winsome Sears Slams Concerns Over 'Misgendering' Nashville School Shooter

Bill Maher

Nashville

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/va-lt-gov-winsome-sears-education-is-a-national-security-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Winsome Sears</a>, the black former Marine who Virginians elected lieutenant governor in a stunning Republican wave last year, told FOX Business Network this week that she will not support former President Donald Trump if he announces that he is going to run for president again.
Sears did not trash the former president as she acknowledge that he did score admirable accomplishments for the country, but she did knock his apparent lack of ability to read the room.
&#8220;When we look at the mission — and, as a Marine, we&#8217;re looking at the mission, and the voters have spoken, and they have said that they want a different leader,&#8221; Sears said. &#8220;And a true leader understands when they have become a liability. A true leader understands that it&#8217;s time to step off the stage. And the voters have given us that very clear message, because this is about America.&#8221;
&#8220;I could not support him. I just couldn&#8217;t, because we have seen, for example, in those states where he has endorsed the candidates, in fact, Republicans on the same ticket who he did not endorse over-performed, whereas his candidates totally underperformed by as much as 10 points,&#8221; she added. &#8220;We have a clear mission, and it is time to move on.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
VA Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears on Trump running in ‘24: “A true leader understands when they have become a liability. A true leader understands that it’s time to step off the stage and the voters have given us that very clear message…I could not support him.” <a href="https://t.co/HBarw1VUit">pic.twitter.com/HBarw1VUit</a>
&mdash; Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) <a href="https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1590982379287764993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2022</a></blockquote>
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TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>NEIL CAVUTO, FOX BUSINESS ANCHOR: But I want to go right now to the lieutenant governor of the beautiful state of Virginia, Winsome Sears.
Lieutenant Governor, very good to have you.
LT. GOV. WINSOME SEARS (R-VA): Thank you for having me.
And, by the way, happy birthday, Marines. Semper fi.
CAVUTO: Oh, good for you, and a very nice reminder. And we&#8217;re going to be celebrating that with my next guest.
But let me, Governor, if I can, get your take on what Charlie Gasparino and I were discussing, that the Republican Party seems to or some want to sort of move on from Donald Trump.
What do you think of that? Is that fair?
SEARS: Well, his administration, when it came to the economy, helped us, because black unemployment was the lowest it had ever been, historically.
And then, of course, when it came to education, he forgave, his administration, the loans that historically black colleges and universities had owed that they could never repay and, by the way, provided a permanent funding stream, and then safety, forced NATO to bring their fair share, only 2 percent of their GDP.
But when we look at the mission &#8212; and, as a Marine, we&#8217;re looking at the mission. And the voters have spoken, and they have said that they want a different leader. And a true leader understands when they have become a liability. A true leader understands that it&#8217;s time to step off the stage. And the voters have given us that very clear message, because this is about America.
CAVUTO: So, does that &#8212; does that apply, within the Republican Party, Lieutenant Governor, to Donald Trump, that it&#8217;s time to step off the stage?
SEARS: Yes, a house divided against itself cannot stand.
And, indeed, that&#8217;s where we are today. And, as I said before, America is the prize. Why do we want to win elections? It&#8217;s because we have got to learn to love to get &#8212; love each other, live together, govern together, and the voters are saying, enough is enough.
CAVUTO: So, if the party wants to move on, or some in the party, such as yourself, Lieutenant Governor &#8212; maybe Governor Youngkin feels the same way &#8212; but Donald Trump still makes a speech next week that he wants to run for president, what would you think about that?
SEARS: I could not support him. I just couldn&#8217;t, because we have seen, for example, in those states where he has endorsed the candidates, in fact, Republicans on the same ticket who he did not endorse overperformed, whereas his candidates totally underperformed by as much as 10 points.
We have a clear mission, and it is time to move on.
CAVUTO: Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears, thank you. We know you have a very press scheduled, so we appreciate your taking the time.</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/winsome-sears-explains-why-democrats-feel-hatred-for-black-conservatives">Winsome Sears Explains Why Democrats Feel ‘Hatred’ For Black Conservatives</a>

Glenn Youngkin Campaign Holds Election Night Event

Winsome Sears: ‘As A Marine’ I Look At ‘The Mission’ And That’s Why I Won’t Support Trump In 2024

Donald Trump

Elections

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/va-lt-gov-winsome-sears-education-is-a-national-security-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Winsome Sears</a>, the black former Marine who Virginians elected lieutenant governor in a stunning Republican wave last year, blasted Democrats for taking minorities for granted in a <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/09/02/winsome-sears-why-democrats-despise-black-conservatives-like-me/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">powerful recent interview</a>.
 The 58-year-old Jamaican immigrant who, along with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ridiculous-edict-virginia-gov-glenn-youngkin-blasts-californias-gas-car-phase-out" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gov. Glenn Youngkin</a> and Attorney General Jason Mayoris, flipped the Old Dominion from blue to red, told New York Post columnist Cal Thomas why Democrats have contempt for black conservatives like her.
“In order for [Democrats] to continue to win, they need to get 80 to 90% of the black vote,” Sears explained. “That’s why they are so full of hatred when conservatives like me, or libertarians, don’t think the way they do. We don’t really care.”
Sears told Thomas blacks must break the grip Democrats have on them.
“The slaves did not die in the fields to be beholden to the Democrat Party,” she said. “They wanted their freedom . . . their families to be reunited . . . and their children to get a good education.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Winsome Sears on targeting of black conservatives: ‘Slaves didn’t die in the fields to be beholden to Dems’ <a href="https://t.co/Nr0FzZigV2">https://t.co/Nr0FzZigV2</a>
&mdash; American Wire News (@americanwire_) <a href="https://twitter.com/americanwire_/status/1566478963597541381?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The devout Christian and ardent pro-lifer said it is mostly Democrats who are fighting to keep abortion legal, which she said takes a disproportionate toll on people of color.
“And they call me a white supremacist for saying we want more black babies,” she mused. “Democrats have to make up their minds.”
Sears told Thomas former <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-hits-back-at-biden-in-first-rally-since-fbi-raid-danger-to-our-democracy-comes-from-the-radical-left-not-the-right/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Trump</a> did well with black voters because his policies created jobs and increased black entrepreneurship. She also praised the 45th president for increasing funding to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
But Sears, whose running mate Youngkin has sparked some presidential talk, stopped short of saying she would endorse a 2024 run by Trump.
“I’m going to hold my fire,” she said. “I want to see what he says, what he does and who else is out there.”
Sears is the first woman of color to hold statewide office in Virginia and is also the State’s first female lieutenant governor. A former electrician in the Marines and director of a Salvation Army homeless shelter, Sears served a term in the state’s House of Delegates two decades ago before mounting an unsuccessful bid for Congress. During her extended absence from politics, Sears ran her own plumbing and electrical business in Winchester, Virginia.
Speaking off herself in the third person, or perhaps channeling the thoughts of critics who cannot fathom her success, Sears said her rise is a repudiation of claims blacks cannot get ahead in America.
“Winsome wasn’t born here,” she said. “This is not her country, not her culture, and yet here she is — second in command in the former capital of the confederacy. The KKK must be turning over in their graves.”
Sears accused Democrats of pandering to blacks with staged events and photo ops like President Joe Biden’s recent commemoration of “Slave Remembrance Day.” Sears said she prefers to look to the future.
“If you want to live in the past, go ahead,” she said. “Just don’t drag me back with you.”

Glenn Youngkin Is Inaugurally Sworn-In As Governor Of Virginia

Winsome Sears Explains Why Democrats Feel ‘Hatred’ For Black Conservatives

Winsome Sears Explains Why Democrats Feel 'Hatred' For Black Conservatives

Democrats

Glenn Youngkin

Race

Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears (R-VA) said Sunday that education in the United States is a &#8220;national security crisis.&#8221;
Appearing on Fox News&#8217;s &#8220;Sunday Morning Futures,&#8221; Sears told host Maria Bartiromo that declining education standards and critical race theory have caused the U.S. to lag behind its global adversaries. Sears said that she believes public education in America has risen to the level of a national security crisis.
Bartiromo began the conversation by pointing out that Sears and Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) have prioritized the fight against CRT in schools.
&#8220;I know education to you changes everything as well,&#8221; Bartiromo said. &#8220;This has been a major focus for you, and yet here too, bad policy in terms of CRT and focusing on issues away from strengthening our students to make them best compete with the Chinese, with all adversaries across the world as they get older.&#8221;
&#8220;I’m glad you stated it that way when you talk about the Chinese, the Russians, etc., because that’s what I’ve elevated our children not learning to,&#8221; Sears responded. &#8220;This is a national security crisis. When so many of our children are not learning, we’re in trouble. We need STEM education. Heavens, we need children who can just read and write. How about that? And add one plus one. We don’t have that.&#8221;
&#8220;We are losing to the China&#8217;s [of the world], to the Russia&#8217;s, even Estonia is beating us in math,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;In science and technology, we’re losing. We need to have education up here now.&#8221;
Sears urged voters across the country to push for change and make their voices heard in the 2022 midterms.
&#8220;We’re talking about the future of America. When we talk about the future of America, we’re talking about our children and grandchildren. Elections, they’re about them. It’s about hope and the future, and we’re not getting there, and we’re not getting there very fast.&#8221;

VA Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears: Education ‘Is A National Security Crisis’

VA Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears: 'Education Is A National Security Crisis'

Fox News

Virginia Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears blasted President Joe Biden saying he has failed to do enough to protect Supreme Court justices as protesters continue to demonstrate outside of their private homes.
Sears shared the remarks during an interview on &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends&#8221; on Thursday.
&#8220;President Biden, you need to tell your attorney general to go and do his job and protect the citizens of the United States of America,&#8221; Sears <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/supreme-court-roe-wade-abortion-biden-garland-virginia-winsome-sears" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during the interview.
&#8220;Ultimately, sir, this falls on you. This is on your watch. And it’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt. And then who is going to write the script for you, Mr. President, so you can read it and say that it was somebody else’s fault?&#8221; she added.
The lieutenant governor also called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to enforce the law against the intimidation of justices in her state.
&#8220;We have asked Attorney General Garland to enforce the law and to make sure that these demonstrators are not allowed to try to intimidate justices like they are trying to do,&#8221; she noted during the interview.
Sears spoke out against protesters in a Twitter post on Wednesday, also calling on state officials to take action.
&#8220;Silence doesn&#8217;t guarantee safety. The mob may come for you. The Commonwealth Attorney has the power to prosecute the individuals picketing and protesting outside the homes of SCOTUS Justices. The Commonwealth Attorney is supposed to enforce the law,&#8221; she wrote.
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Silence doesn&#39;t guarantee safety. The mob may come for you. The Commonwealth Attorney has the power to prosecute the individuals picketing and protesting outside the homes of SCOTUS Justices. The Commonwealth Attorney is supposed to enforce the law. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/everforward?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#everforward</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LG42?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LG42</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Winsome?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Winsome</a> <a href="https://t.co/UkkTJmXGva">pic.twitter.com/UkkTJmXGva</a>
&mdash; Winsome Earle-Sears (@WinsomeSears) <a href="https://twitter.com/WinsomeSears/status/1524419245521739781?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The interview followed a series of planned protests at the homes of all six conservative justices on Wednesday.
Multiple protests have now occurred since Politico reported a leak of a draft by Justice Samuel Alito that appears to indicate the court could likely overturn Roe v. Wade and return decisions regarding abortion laws to individual states.
On Monday, protesters gathered outside of Alito&#8217;s home. It is illegal to try to influence the court&#8217;s decision.
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Last night, radical leftists held threatening and intimidating protests outside Justice Alito&#39;s Virginia home.
&quot;F&#8212; you Alito&quot; they screamed.
These protests are technically illegal but, of course, no one was arrested.<a href="https://t.co/E4Ge8Fy4mh">https://t.co/E4Ge8Fy4mh</a> <a href="https://t.co/KQcaJSuncj">pic.twitter.com/KQcaJSuncj</a>
&mdash; Steven Ertelt (@StevenErtelt) <a href="https://twitter.com/StevenErtelt/status/1524026218684641280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/amy-coney-barretts-neighbor-has-a-message-for-pro-abortion-handmaids-demonstrating-at-her-house" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on Wednesday on a small group of pro-abortion rights protestors who demonstrated in front of Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s home, prompting criticism from one of the justice’s neighbors.
“They shouldn’t be doing this,” he told The Daily Signal’s Doug Blair, before telling the protestors: “Go home and get a family.”
“It’s none of their business, why are they here?” he asked. The neighbor said that he thinks it is “of course” inappropriate for the protestors, who were dressed as handmaids, to demonstrate in Barrett’s neighborhood.
“They have the right to protest but not in front of someone’s house,” he said. “They live here, this is where she lives.”
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Handmaid&#39;s Tale is at Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s home. <a href="https://t.co/mCQrrgo4Lt">pic.twitter.com/mCQrrgo4Lt</a>
&mdash; Virginia Allen (@Virginia_Allen5) <a href="https://twitter.com/Virginia_Allen5/status/1524532379544662017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The protests have led to increased police protection for the Supreme Court&#8217;s justices and their family members.
In addition to protests, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) forced a vote on the Women&#8217;s Health Protection Act on Wednesday to put every senator on record regarding their view of the abortion legislation.
All 50 Republican senators and West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin opposed the vote, with 49 Democrats opposing the measure, falling short of a majority and far below the 60-vote supermajority required to bypass a Senate filibuster.

‘On Your Watch’: Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears Challenges Biden To Protect Supreme Court Justices

Virginia Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears Challenges Biden To Protect Supreme Court Justices

Abortion

Protests

Virginia Republicans shocked the nation last November when they flipped their state — which Biden won in 2020 with an eight-point margin — firmly to the GOP. 
Republican Glenn Youngkin comfortably defeated Democratic contender Terry McAuliffe for the governorship, and Republicans clinched a majority in the Virginia House of Delegates.
Many stories emerged in the Virginia elections that will define national races in 2022 and beyond — most importantly, the central role of education and other “kitchen-table issues” 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 — becoming the first black woman in Virginia to attain statewide office in the process.
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.
‘The American Dream’
In her own words, Sears “took the hard road” to public office. 
Her father left Jamaica for the United States with only $1.75 in his pocket at the height of the civil rights movement — 17 days before Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his landmark “I Have A Dream” speech. Despite the challenges still faced by black people, Sears’ father took any job he could find, put himself through school, and brought his young daughter to America. Today, he is “comfortably retired because he achieved the American dream.”
“So this is not my country necessarily, not my culture,” Sears explained. “And yet I am second in command here in Virginia.”
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&#8217; Advisory Committee on Women Veterans and the Virginia Board of Education. Before running for office, however, Sears led a men’s prison ministry and a women’s shelter, aiding with “long-term transition to help them get back on their feet.”
‘We Are The New Messengers’
Youngkin is the first Republican to hold the Virginia governor’s office since 2013, and Democrats controlled the House of Delegates, Senate, and governorship in both 2020 and 2021. Sears observed that when Democrats have “that kind of control,” they just “run with it” — but also noticed that they “went a bridge too far.”
“When you&#8217;ve got girls being in the same bathrooms as boys, and then rapes happen, then that&#8217;s a problem. And when you&#8217;re not trying to fix it — when you&#8217;re lying to the parents about these things — that&#8217;s a problem,” 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 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/loudoun-county-schools-tried-to-conceal-sexual-assault-against-daughter-in-bathroom-father-says">exclusively revealed by The Daily Wire</a>.
“When you&#8217;re trying to pit the races against each other, then that&#8217;s another problem. When the children aren&#8217;t learning anything, period, that&#8217;s another problem,” she continued. “When you have the masks on in school, and it&#8217;s really affecting children inordinately… that&#8217;s another problem that the Democrats had.”
“These were problems that were building up for the Democrats, and they weren&#8217;t listening,” Sears said. “We are the new messengers. We brought the new message that the people wanted.”
Sears hopes that the Virginia Senate — which is still controlled by the Democrats — will “get on board” alongside Republicans as they forward the interests of the electorate. In any case: “They&#8217;re three years old with their message. Ours is the newer message that the people want.”
“There are certain things that I&#8217;m about. I&#8217;m not going to be giving those away,” she said. “But you know, on certain things, you have to have a give and take in order to get done what you want.”
Although Sears affirms that she “can be congenial” and will “choose to say ‘No’ the nicer way until you show me that that&#8217;s not going to work,” she has earned a penchant for her blunt communication style. Beyond the viral campaign <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1455966499445817344?s=20&amp;t=q_NfZ0_k3SkorRx3kB7d7w">photo</a> in which she brandished a large rifle, Sears recently drew national attention for using her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/winsome-sears-improvises-after-someone-takes-her-gavel-resourcefulness-never-underestimate-it">high-heeled patent leather pump</a> to bring the Virginia Senate to order after a prankster stole her gavel.
At the same time, she recognizes that her party will likely be unable to “get the whole shebang” while the Senate remains hostile. “Democrats, as I said before, when they get the ship, they run. And now we&#8217;re having to try to get rid of some of the things that they have put forward. We can&#8217;t get the votes for it, because the votes just aren&#8217;t 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&#8217;ll come back next year.”
‘Your Child, Your Choice’
During their first days in office, Virginia Republicans began to undo elements of the progressive agenda established by their predecessors. Youngkin <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/youngkin-cleans-house-at-state-diversity-office">cleaned house</a> in the state’s diversity office, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/glenn-youngkin-outlines-his-plan-to-make-virginias-education-system-number-one-in-nation">signed an executive order</a> nixing the use of Critical Race Theory in government schools, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/youngkin-delivers-on-promises-in-first-week">began investigating</a> Loudoun County Public Schools, among other actions.
When asked about the issues plaguing government schools, Sears affirmed that she wants parents “to have school choice.”
“If the parents want to continue to send their children to public schools, that&#8217;s fine. Your child, your choice. If you want to send them to charter schools, which is a public school, that&#8217;s fine. Your child, your choice,” she declared. “You want private school, you want parochial schools, you want homeschool, whatever it is… let the parents make that choice for their children.”
“Competition is healthy,” Sears noted. “I mean, what are they afraid of? What are the teachers&#8217; unions afraid of? If you&#8217;re doing a good job, that&#8217;s wonderful. But if not, and parents decide that they&#8217;re 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?”
Sears noticed that critics of school choice are inconsistent in their arguments about state financing. “The pushback is, ‘Well, they don&#8217;t want public money going towards private entities.’ But wait a minute, let&#8217;s examine that. You have SNAP food benefits. Now isn&#8217;t that public money going towards private grocery stores? The government doesn&#8217;t have a grocery store that it tells the people, ‘You can only use your food voucher at the government grocery store.’ When it comes to Section 8 — we know that that&#8217;s public money going to private landlords… You see? So there is a problem there. And none of it makes any sense.”
‘We Need To Come Together’
In a recent interview with the <a href="https://richmondfreepress.com/news/2022/jan/13/im-tired-fighting-people-who-look-me/">Richmond Free Press</a>, Sears lamented that she is “tired of fighting people who look like me.” Similarly, when a black Republican in the House of Delegates was <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">barred from joining the black caucus</a>, Sears had multiple pithy suggestions for new coalitions — such as the “You’re Not Black Enough Caucus” and the “Watch the Trolls Come Out Caucus.”
When asked to elaborate on her sentiment, she again mourned that “the people sometimes who come against me the most are the people who look like me.”
“I&#8217;m fighting for everybody. I&#8217;m fighting for black people, white people, Asians, Latinos, I&#8217;m fighting for everybody. I want everybody to have a fair shake,” Sears said. “We know that in math, for example, by the time children in Virginia reach the eighth grade, 35% of Asian children can&#8217;t do math. 45% of white children, 70% of Latino children, and 84% of black children can&#8217;t do math by the time they&#8217;re in the eighth grade.”
“So the problem that folks have is not that I&#8217;m a black Republican — the problem they have is that our children aren&#8217;t learning. That&#8217;s what we need to fight. We need to come together and fight for our children to get the best education possible.”
The need for educational excellence is heightened by the rising hegemony of Russia and China. “We&#8217;ve 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.”
‘Our Message Is Working’
Sears believes that her party’s success in Virginia is indicative of what&#8217;s coming for the rest of the nation because “parents are always going to fight for their children.”
“People from all around the country are saying, ‘We now know that we too can achieve the same results that you had.’ Look at what happened in San Francisco. San Francisco recalled three people from their school board, and the mayor — who is a Democrat, and who is black — was agreeing to that, led the effort to do that. That was a shocker.”
“When you&#8217;re seeing bastions of Democrat leadership who are sounding more and more Republican — then you know our message is working,” she observed. “In fact, when President Biden gave his State of the Union speech, I could have sworn to you… I thought he was a Republican governor, or at least a Republican candidate for governor.”
“You know, people are understanding that common sense left the building, and they&#8217;re going to vote her back in. And that happens with voting Republicans back in.” 
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

‘Our Message Is Working’: Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears On School Choice, Republican Landslides, And Achieving The American Dream

Readers Pass

Virginia Lt. Governor Winsome Sears (R) had her gavel taken from her this week by a &#8220;prankster&#8221; &#8212; but that didn&#8217;t stop the resourceful Republican from gaveling into the Virginia Senate.
Sears improvised by using her high-heeled patent leather pump to do the gaveling.
&#8220;[Winsome Sears] gaveled Virginia Senate to order with high-heeled patent leather pump after an unknown prankster hid her gavel,&#8221; Washington Post&#8217;s Laura Vozzella said on Twitter. &#8220;She took the trick in stride: &#8216;One shoe can change your life. Just ask Cinderella.'&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/WinsomeSears?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WinsomeSears</a> gaveled Virginia Senate to order with high-heeled patent leather pump after an unknown prankster hid her gavel. She took the trick in stride: “One shoe can change your life. Just ask Cinderella.” <a href="https://t.co/kviwLGvsXh">pic.twitter.com/kviwLGvsXh</a>
&mdash; Laura Vozzella (@LVozzella) <a href="https://twitter.com/LVozzella/status/1493324647584215041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The lieutenant governor responded to the post. &#8220;Resourcefulness- never underestimate it!&#8221;
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Resourcefulness- never underestimate it! <a href="https://t.co/dfwAcOiVx4">https://t.co/dfwAcOiVx4</a>
&mdash; Winsome Earle-Sears (@WinsomeSears) <a href="https://twitter.com/WinsomeSears/status/1493334092884193287?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Sears, a Marine Corps veteran, made history in November, becoming the first woman, and the first black woman, to ever be elected Virginia’s lieutenant governor.
“I’m telling you that what you are looking at is the American dream,” Sears said in her victory speech.
“When I joined the Marine Corps, I was still a Jamaican. But this country had done so much for me, I was willing, willing, to die for this country,” the Republican <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/squad-quiet-over-winsome-searss-historic-virginia-electoral-victory">said</a> before leading the crowd of supporters in a “USA” chant.
Following her election, Sears told Fox News that Americans are tired of politicians agitating racial divisions, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republican-winsome-sears-voters-are-tired-of-politicians-who-wont-let-the-wounds-of-the-past-heal">The Daily Wire</a> reported:
<blockquote>“What do you think Virginia voters were saying on Election Day when they made you lieutenant governor?” Chris Wallace asked Sears on “Fox News Sunday.”
“They’re tired of the black against white and the Asian against Latino,” Sears responded. “They’re tired of it, and they’re tired of politicians who won’t let the wounds of the past heal.”</blockquote>
The lieutenant governor also made news earlier this month when she suggested several names for new caucuses after Virginia Del. Aijalon Cordoza (R), who is black, was barred from joining the state House’s black caucus, <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">The Daily Wire</a> reported:
<blockquote>“We’re trying to start a new caucus. Name suggestions? The You’re Not Black Enough Caucus, The No More Division Caucus, The Welcome Caucus, The Let’s Do Away With Caucuses Caucus, The FRIEND Caucus #Virginia#inclusion #everforward,” Sears tweeted.
“The We Shall Overcome Caucus, The I Can’t Believe They Didn’t Accept Me Caucus, The Watch the Trolls Come Out Caucus, The Tear Down This Wall Caucus, The Becky With The Good Hair Caucus,” Sears added in a second tweet.</blockquote>
“It really did offend me,” Cordoza <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/black-republican-virginia-delegate-says-black-caucus-rejected-him">told</a> Fox News about the rejection. “It was a spit in the face. This says to me that I’m not black enough to be in the Black Caucus, and that’s an insult.”
“Defining what ‘black’ is by these liberal criteria is frankly wrong and disgusting,” the conservative added.
Related: <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">Winsome Sears Proposes Starting The ‘You’re Not Black Enough’ Caucus After GOP Delegate Is Barred From Black Caucus</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/politifact-claims-virginia-lt-gov-greatly-overstated-amount-spent-on-crt-they-missed-a-few-payments">PolitiFact Claims Virginia Lt. Gov. Greatly Overstated Amount Spent On CRT. They Missed A Few Payments.</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/squad-quiet-over-winsome-searss-historic-virginia-electoral-victory">‘Squad’ Quiet Over Winsome Sears’ Historic Virginia Electoral Victory</a>
The Daily Wire’s first original film, Shut In, has made its cinematic debut, being met with rave reviews. The Daily Wire is building an alternative to the leftist entertainment industry, one gripping movie at a time. Join us in this mission and stream Shut In today by becoming a Daily Wire <a class="in-cell-link" href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">member</a>.

Winsome Sears Improvises After Someone Takes Her Gavel: ‘Resourcefulness- Never Underestimate It!’

Newly-elected Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears (R-VA) suggested several names for new caucuses after Virginia Del. Aijalon Cordoza (R) — who is black — was barred from joining the state House&#8217;s black caucus.
&#8220;We&#8217;re trying to start a new caucus. Name suggestions? The You&#8217;re Not Black Enough Caucus, The No More Division Caucus, The Welcome Caucus, The Let&#8217;s Do Away With Caucuses Caucus, The FRIEND Caucus #Virginia #inclusion #everforward,&#8221; Sears tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
We&#39;re trying to start a new caucus. Name suggestions? The You&#39;re Not Black Enough Caucus The No More Division Caucus The Welcome Caucus The Let&#39;s Do Away With Caucuses Caucus The FRIEND Caucus <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Virginia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Virginia</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/inclusion?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#inclusion</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/everforward?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#everforward</a> <a href="https://t.co/3q0cShRFZT">https://t.co/3q0cShRFZT</a>
&mdash; Winsome Earle-Sears (@WinsomeSears) <a href="https://twitter.com/WinsomeSears/status/1489586780974297089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;The We Shall Overcome Caucus, The I Can&#8217;t Believe They Didn&#8217;t Accept Me Caucus, The Watch the Trolls Come Out Caucus, The Tear Down This Wall Caucus, The Becky With The Good Hair Caucus,&#8221; Sears added in a second tweet.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The We Shall Overcome Caucus The I Can&#39;t Believe They Didn&#39;t Accept Me Caucus The Watch the Trolls Come Out Caucus The Tear Down This Wall Caucus The Becky With The Good Hair Caucus
&mdash; Winsome Earle-Sears (@WinsomeSears) <a href="https://twitter.com/WinsomeSears/status/1489586782085816320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Cordoza told Fox News that when the black caucus denied him entry, it had made him feel as though he was &#8220;not black enough.&#8221;
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/not-black-enough-virginia-republican-blasts-black-caucus-after-he-claims-they-rejected-his-entrance/">reported</a>:
<blockquote>“It really did offend me,” Del. Aijalon Cordoza <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/black-republican-virginia-delegate-says-black-caucus-rejected-him">told</a> Fox News in an exclusive interview. “It was a spit in the face. This says to me that I’m not black enough to be in the Black Caucus, and that’s an insult.”
“Defining what ‘black’ is by these liberal criteria is frankly wrong and disgusting,” the conservative added.
&#8230;
“I wanted to become a member of the Black Caucus because I wanted to be a voice, I wanted to be a conservative voice in a group that’s normally very liberal,” he told Fox News Digital. “And I wanted to represent all African Americans, not just liberal ones. I wanted a seat at the table.”</blockquote>
&#8220;It&#8217;s important to have different Black voices at the table to address challenges in our community. In this nation&#8217;s history, Civil Rights leaders always understood this. I&#8217;m disappointed that the @VaBlackCaucus does not embrace true diversity,&#8221; Cordoza added in an interview with the Virginia Pilot.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://t.co/NSynUiO0l1">https://t.co/NSynUiO0l1</a>. 
&quot;It&#39;s important to have different Black voices at the table to address challenges in our community. In this nation&#39;s history, Civil Rights leaders always understood this. 
I&#39;m disappointed that the <a href="https://twitter.com/VaBlackCaucus?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VaBlackCaucus</a> does not embrace true diversity.&quot;
&mdash; Delegate AC Cordoza (@AcCordoza) <a href="https://twitter.com/AcCordoza/status/1489582947942424578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL) ran into a similar situation when he was elected to the United States Congress in 2020 — after reaching out to the Congressional Black Caucus on several occasions, it became apparent that he was not going to be invited to join.
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-congressional-black-caucus-seems-to-be-refusing-membership-to-black-republican-byron-donalds">reported</a>:
<blockquote>The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), which is controlled by Democrats, is allegedly refusing to let Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), who is black, join the group.
“It’s been six months since the members who won election in 2020 were inducted into the CBC, a powerful and nominally nonpartisan group of Black lawmakers in Congress,” BuzzFeed News <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kadiagoba/byron-donalds-congressional-black-caucus-membership">reported</a>. “Donalds, who won election for the first time last year, has not been included in that group.”
“Obviously, the dominant voice in the CBC tends to be Democrat or liberal voices, and I want to bring change to that,” Donalds <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/13/gop-freshman-minority-caucuses-468893">said</a> earlier this year. “Yes, I’m a conservative Republican, but I think in the Black community, we have a wide range of political thought. It doesn’t always get talked about, but it exists.”</blockquote>

Winsome Sears Proposes Starting The ‘You’re Not Black Enough’ Caucus After GOP Delegate Is Barred From Black Caucus

On Monday, PolitiFact published a fact check of a comment made by Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R-VA) in which she said the “Loudoun County School Board spent about $300,000 – that’s real money, that’s going-to-jail money – to bring [Critical Race Theory] CRT in some form or fashion to the school system.”
PolitiFact claimed in its “<a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/jan/24/winsome-sears/did-loudoun-county-va-schools-pay-about-300000-cri/">fact check</a>” that Earle-Sears vastly overstated the amount of money spent by the Loudoun County School Board:
<blockquote>We asked Earle-Sears’ office three times for the source of her claim about Loudoun’s $300,000 investment in critical race theory and did not get a reply. It seems apparent, however, that she greatly overstated the $34,167 cost of seminars about critical race theory and equity training the Loudoun school system held for top officials in late spring, 2020.
…
Wayde Byard, said the seminar was held to familiarize senior school officials with critical race theory. “It’s an academic construct that’s been around 45 years,” he said.
We asked Byard if the county has spent funds on critical race theory beyond the $34,167 for the seminars. “No, that’s about it,” he said.</blockquote>
PolitiFact also reached out to a school spokesperson who said the county has not spent anything beyond the $34,167 amount on CRT. For that, PolitiFact rated Earle-Sears’ comment as “Mostly False.”
But The Daily Caller’s Chrissy Clark posted screenshots of expenditures showing Loudoun County did spend upward of $300,000 to Equity Collaborative LLC, which <a href="https://theequitycollaborative.com/what-is-equity-coaching/">says</a> it provides “equity coaching” to “to help organizations develop their own capacity to create educational equity and social justice by addressing bias and oppression.” While the website predictably doesn’t say it promotes CRT, yet all the hallmarks of its influence are there.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/PolitiFact?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PolitiFact</a> is calling out <a href="https://twitter.com/WinsomeSears?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WinsomeSears</a> for “falsely claiming” that LCPS paid “about $300,000” for critical race theory-inspired training.
Well, your humble Poynter alumni is here with receipts. And LCPS DID pay upwards of $300k for such training<a href="https://t.co/67dfCjaORz">https://t.co/67dfCjaORz</a> <a href="https://t.co/OXT78tRiHm">pic.twitter.com/OXT78tRiHm</a>
— Chrissy Clark (@chrissyclark_) <a href="https://twitter.com/chrissyclark_/status/1486005872316891139?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The screenshots from Clark show the Loudoun County school system made seven payments to Equity Collaborative since 2018, with the largest payment made in June 2019 for a whopping $242,000. The final payment, made in June 2020, was for $34,167 – the exact amount PolitiFact and Byard said the school paid in total. Adding up the payments totals more than $300,000.
PolitiFact has yet to correct or update its fact check of Earle-Sears, and also appeared to miss that this topic was addressed by former George W. Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen in The Washington Post last November. As Thiessen wrote at the time:
<blockquote>Virginia’s Loudoun County Public Schools, which were ground zero in the debate over the role of parents in their kids’ education, paid <a href="https://defendinged.org/report/the-equity-collaborative/">$314,000</a> for critical race theory coaching for its teachers from the <a href="https://theequitycollaborative.com/">Equity Collaborative</a> — a consulting firm that turns critical race theory into practices for “building more equitable learning environments.” In its presentation “Introduction to Critical Race Theory” the Equity Collaborative instructs teachers that racism is “an inherent part of American civilization” and attacks “ideas of colorblindness, the neutrality of the law, incremental change, and equal opportunity for all” for maintaining “whites’ power and strongholds within society.” It also questions “the idea of meritocracy” which “allows the empowered … to feel ‘good’ and have a clear conscience” and concludes with a breakout session for teachers to discuss “How might you use CRT to identify and address systemic oppression in your school, district or organization?”</blockquote>
As Hot Air <a href="https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2022/01/25/politifacts-fact-check-of-va-lt-gov-appears-to-have-missed-something-n443959">pointed out</a>, the organization that discovered the CRT spending, Parents Defending Education, “actually <a href="https://defendinged.org/report/the-equity-collaborative/">split the district’s spending</a> into two categories, $34,000 for Equity Collaborative training including CRT and another $314,000 for EQ &#8216;training.&#8217; Maybe this is the gimmick that Politifact is relying on. Only $34,000 was explicitly about CRT while the rest was merely CRT adjacent.”

PolitiFact Claims Virginia Lt. Gov. Greatly Overstated Amount Spent On CRT. They Missed A Few Payments.

Critical Race Theory

PolitiFact

Republican Virginia Lieutenant Governor-Elect Winsome Sears pushed back Sunday on CNN&#8217;s Dana Bash when the &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; host claimed that Critical Race Theory was not part of school curricula.
Bash began the segment with a question about the fact that <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/squad-quiet-over-winsome-searss-historic-virginia-electoral-victory/">Sears</a>, the first black woman elected to statewide office in Virginia, had made history — and Sears, who has said several times that making history was not her goal in running for office, added that she did see the importance of being an example for those who would come after her.
Pivoting to the topic of education, Bash noted that Sears — like Republican Governor-Elect Glenn Youngkin — had voiced opposition to <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/what-is-critical-race-theory-breaking-down-the-ideology-thats-hitting-schools-across-the-country/">Critical Race Theory</a> while on the campaign trail.
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&#8220;Let&#8217;s talk about education more broadly. You opposed Critical Race Theory taught in schools which I should say is not part of Virginia’s curriculum,&#8221; Bash said. &#8220;You did say though that the good and the bad of American history should be taught, and that — we should also tell viewers you’re a former vice president of the Virginia Board of Education. Explain how you think race should be taught in Virginia public schools.&#8221;
&#8220;Well, let me back up. I beg to differ that CRT is not taught,&#8221; <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/republican-winsome-sears-voters-are-tired-of-politicians-who-wont-let-the-wounds-of-the-past-heal/">Sears</a> pushed back immediately.
&#8220;I didn’t say that. I just said it’s not in the curriculum, just to be clear,&#8221; Bash clarified.
&#8220;No, no, no, no, it is part of the curriculum, it is weaved in and out of the curriculum,&#8221; Sears continued, arguing that while there might not be lesson plans titled &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/7-lying-media-outlets-claiming-crt-isnt-being-taught-in-public-schools/">Critical Race Theory</a>,&#8221; the principles had been woven into the standard curriculum over time. &#8220;In fact, in 2015, former governor, who was just defeated, McAuliffe, his state Board of Education had information on how to teach it, so it’s weaved in. So you know, it’s semantics, but it’s weaved in.&#8221;
Sears went on to say that she believed it was important to teach all of history — &#8220;the good, the bad and the ugly&#8221; — because the only way to learn from the mistakes of the past was to study them with open eyes.
&#8220;But while we’re talking about history, how about we talk about how people, from the 1890s, black people from the 1890s to about 1950 or 1960 according to the U.S. Census, had been marrying in a percentage that had far surpassed anything that whites had ever done. When we talk about the Tulsa race riots, let’s ask ourselves how did the black people amass so much wealth right after the Civil War, so that it could even be destroyed? How do they do that? You know, they were coming from nothing, from zero, some of them never even got the &#8217;40 acres and a mule.&#8217; Let’s try to emulate that,&#8221; Sears continued.
&#8220;The one thing that the slaves wanted, well, three top things, their freedom, certainly, then the next thing was they wanted to find their families and the third thing was they wanted an education, and my God, when did education become a bad word among black people? No!&#8221; Sears added, saying that she had seen the results of what a good education could do firsthand.
&#8220;Education lifted my father out of poverty when he came to America with only $1.75, education lifted me, because I have to find my own way in this world, and education will lift all of us,&#8221; she concluded.

‘Let Me Back Up’: Winsome Sears Directly Challenges Dana Bash Claim That CRT Is Not In Virginia Curriculum

Dana Bash

State of the Union

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