Every year is an election year in Virginia, and we gain national attention as one of the only states to vote for governor after a presidential election year.

The rights of trans youth could be a factor Virginia’s 2025 gubernatorial election and legislative control in Richmond. Republican Winsome Earle-Sears opposes the rights of trans kids at school. Democrat Abigail Spanberger has largely avoided the subject. Each candidate is trying to cast the other as the extremist on the issue. LGBTQ+ Virginians have been grappling with what it means to be queer and trans in a moment where their identities are thrust into statewide and national politics. Other Virginians, meanwhile, worry about its impact on their children.

In what many are calling a historic moment for Virginia, the 2025 governor’s race is already making headlines because the Commonwealth is on track to elect its first woman governor. 10 News anchor Abbie Coleman met with both candidates to probe their plans, their priorities, and their paths to history. She sat down one-on-one with Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears to talk about her vision for Virginia and why she believes she’s the right person for the job.

Virginia's lieutenant governor is used to facing formidable obstacles in her political campaigns. And Winsome Earle-Sears' bid to be Virginia’s next governor is no exception. The Jamaican immigrant and Marine veteran will need to win the Republican primary in June at a time when her party has been taken over by the “Make America Great Again” movement. Then she'll have to woo moderate and independent voters in the November general election as Democrats look to tie her to President Donald Trump’s overhaul of the federal government. Two conservatives are trying to challenge her in the primary. Virginia has never elected a woman as governor.