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EXCLUSIVE: Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears will receive a big boost from a top national conservative figure in her quest to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin in November, Fox News Digital has learned exclusively.
Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the original “DOGE” leaders in President Donald Trump’s circle, plans to rally with and endorse her at an event in Chesterfield next week.
Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital that Earle-Sears will “lead Virginia to new heights.”
“Winning in 2024 was the first step, but soon it’s going to be up to the states to lead the way,” Ramaswamy said.
Ohio politician Vivek Ramaswamy, left; Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, right. (Getty Images; Getty Images)
“I look forward to leading Ohio soon, and we want a coalition of strong states to join us in reviving a new American Dream.”
Earle-Sears, who will join Ramaswamy in the Richmond suburb on September 19, said she is “honored” to have the entrepreneur join her in the commonwealth.
“Vivek and I share a deep belief in the promise of America, that with hard work, faith, and freedom, every family can thrive,” she said.
Earle-Sears called Ramaswamy a “strong voice for freedom, opportunity, and common sense.”
“I’m grateful for his friendship and partnership in this fight. It means so much to welcome him to Virginia as we stand shoulder to shoulder, working to deliver a brighter, safer, and stronger future for every Virginian family.”
The Republican nominee, locked in a close fight with former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who leads by a handful of points, has also received key endorsements from figures like Youngkin, while pledging to continue the economic successes of the current administration.
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Earle-Sears also has made her personal story a hallmark of her campaign – often quipping that she might seem like she should be the stereotypical Democrat, though she is anything but.
“I look like the kind of people who really do normally vote Democratic, and I’m not. And so I’m appealing to all voters,” she said in a recent interview.
“My message is a common-sense message that no matter where you came from in life, no matter what color you are, no matter what country you came from, when you came to America and you tried and here you are succeeding, that’s what we need.”
“Here I stand, second-in-command in the former capital of the Confederacy,” Earle-Sears, who is Black and an immigrant from Jamaica, added. “Don’t tell me America hasn’t changed.”
The Ramaswamy event will be held in the home district of state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in the 2025 race.
Chesterfield County, outside Petersburg, is considered a bellwether in statewide contests. Once reliably Republican for decades, it has trended Democratic since the 2000s with an influx of younger and more diverse voters from the Richmond-Petersburg metro.
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Hillary Clinton lost it by about one percentage point in 2016. Former President Joe Biden then flipped the county in 2020 – but Youngkin won it in 2021, before former Vice President Kamala Harris beat Trump there by about nine points in 2024.
The area is best known as the namesake of a historic cigarette brand, and home of several athletes, including New York Giants legend Lawrence Taylor, basketball player Moses Malone, and NASCAR star Denny Hamlin.
In Ramaswamy’s own race, he recently received the endorsement of the Ohio Republican Party, which led Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to drop out of the primary.
Current Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel – a retired coaching icon at Ohio State University – is also considering jumping in on the Republican side.
Former Sen. Sherrod Brown elected to pursue his old Senate seat rather than focus on Columbus, and former Rep. Tim Ryan is also considering a run against current Democratic primary candidate, ex-Ohio Health Director Amy Acton.
Recent polling trends showed Ramaswamy leading both Acton and Ryan in the general election – should the latter jump into the fray.
