By Paula Bolyard
When Republican Winsome Sears took the stage early Wednesday morning to celebrate her victory over Democrat Hala Ayala in the race to be Virginia’s next lieutenant governor, the crowd was electrified. Sears, surrounded by her family, sparkled as the crowd chanted, “Winsome! Winsome! Winsome!”
“I am at a loss for words for the first time in my life,” she told supporters. “I am here because of you. I’m here because you voted for me. I’m here because you put your trust in me. Thank you, thank you.”
“I’m telling you that what you are looking at is the American dream. The American dream. When my father came to this country on August 11, 1963. He came at the height of the civil rights movement,” she said. “He came from Jamaica. I said to him, ‘why did you come?’ He said, ‘because America was where the jobs and the opportunities were.’”
She explained that her father arrived in the U.S. with $1.75 in his pocket, taking any job he could find and putting himself through school so he could enjoy the American Dream.
She posted this sweet video in August to commemorate the anniversary of the day her father came to America: