RUTHFULLY YOURS

“I’m telling you that what you are looking at is the American dream,” Sears said during her victory speech.

If a patriotic citizen tried to sketch out the perfect resume for a person to entrust with political power, the ideal biography might include service to country and community, an appreciation for America’s unique opportunities, practical experience in creating wealth, and an understanding of the challenges in preparing for future prosperity. Ms. Colton at Fox reports:

“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,” Sears said during her victory speech early Wednesday morning…

She immigrated to the United States from Jamaica as a child, and was the director of a Salvation Army homeless shelter prior to entering politics. She also owns an appliance and plumbing repair store in Virginia, and previously served as vice president of the Virginia Board of Education.

Ms. Sears does not think that public education should be a vehicle for political indoctrination. CNN’s Ms. Duster adds:

“We have a saying in church, ‘I may not be what I’m supposed to be, but I ain’t what I used to be.’ And that’s America,” Sears said. “We are not back in 1963, when my father arrived at the height of the Civil Rights Movement and things were very bad for us as Black people.”

“Are there changes that need to be made? Most assuredly,” Sears added. “There is no country in this world that does not suffer from racism. . . . But you have seen people who are dying to cross the border into America because they know that if they can get their foot on American soil, the trajectory of their lives will change—as it did for my father.”

Ms. Sears is no doubt speaking for many Virginians and many Americans when she addresses a radical fad that has lately been embraced by teachers union bosses and too many school administrators. According to the CNN report:

“If Critical Race Theory means that telling a child that once you emerge from the womb you are a racist and a colonizer and whatever else, that’s not going to be good. That’s going to create morale problems for everybody,” Sears told the Virginia Mercury in August. “If we’re going to teach about African American history, why just keep it to one month? Let’s teach it throughout. Let’s talk about these things. You can’t escape history. Let’s talk about the good, the bad and the ugly.”

What can Virginians expect in terms of policy from Ms. Sears? Antonio Olivo reports for the Washington Post:

A victory for Sears would bring to the executive branch a pragmatic conservative who during her campaign worked to expand the Republican Party by bringing in voters of color who agreed with her stances against abortion and for gun owners’ rights . . .

Her political career began in 2001, when as a young former U.S. Marine, Sears beat a long-term Democratic incumbent in a predominantly Black Norfolk district by, among other things, promising voters that state-funded school vouchers could help their children get a better education.

Sears served just one term in the House, where she sponsored a 2002 ban on Ku Klux Klan-style cross burnings in Virginia that got around a state Supreme Court ruling the previous year that found the practice was protected under the First Amendment.

Then, as abruptly as Sears entered the political arena, she left — in large part to care for a daughter with bipolar disorder who died in a 2011 car crash along with Sears’s two young granddaughters.

Now back in politics, Ms. Sears was joined on Tuesday night by her two surviving daughters and her husband, who is also a Marine Corps veteran.

Ms. Sears could soon be playing a decisive role on key issues in Virginia, since the lieutenant governor casts tie-breaking votes in the state senate. “The current lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, broke more than 50 tie votes during his term,” reports Patrick Wilson in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

As Ms. Sears seeks to counter the divisive voices in public education, she should have plenty of public support. Pollster Scott Rasmussen reports via email on a survey of 500 Virginia voters on Tuesday night:

83% of Virginia voters agree that “America was founded on the ideals of freedom, equality, and self-governance. Our nation has a tragic history of racial injustice, but we have made and continue to make progress.” That includes 84% of Youngkin voters and 82% of McCauliffe voters.

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The Politics of Voting

Speaking of divisive issues, Mr. Rasmussen found that Virginians, just like people in other states, have achieved another strong bipartisan consensus, and it is not at all in line with the opinions of national leaders in the Democratic Party. Mr. Rasmussen writes:

81% of Virginia voters believe photo IDs should be required for voting. That includes 94% of Youngkin voters and 66% of McCauliffe voters.

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