More GOP Politicians Should Be Like Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears – Opinion

Virginia’s Lieutenant-Governor-elect Winsome sears was elected last November. It was a landmark moment in American history and an unprecedented coup for Republican Party. Glenn Youngkin and Winsome Sears will be taking office Jan. 15. Newly elected Lt. Governor. The newly-elected Lt. Gov. did something rare in Republican politics and others should be inspired.

Sears visited the constituents of her party on Jan. 6. This was while the left attempted to convince the nation the Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol was worse than Pearl Harbor, 9/11 and the Holocaust. She did more than visit people one might expect of a politician from either party.

He met with prisoners in a correctional institution. Tweet:

Today, I visited the inmates at St. Bride’s Correctional Facility. As Lieutenant Governor-Elect, they are my constituents. They can’t come to me, so I must go to them. All Virginians need hope and a future. #everforward #Virginia #LG-Elect

Today, I visited St. Bride’s Correctional Facility. These are my constituents, Lieutenant Governor-Elect. They cannot come to me. I have to go to them. Virginians all need to have hope and a chance for the future. #everforward #Virginia #LG-Elect pic.twitter.com/gDnqyFkiGS

— Winsome Sears (@WinsomeSears) January 6, 2022

It is only a gesture. If it’s a sign of Sears’ plans for government, this is positive. If we’re being honest, we know Republicans do not typically engage with prisoners in this way. As law-and-order supporters, we don’t have the same compassion or understanding towards those who are guilty of crimes. It is not something you would expect from Democratic politicians. They might simply want to use this photo as a way to demonstrate how much their love for non-whites.

The GOP could be moving in this direction, however. Sears, a former president Donald Trump who was a vocal advocate for criminal justice reform and First Step Act might be following his lead. This could help the Republican Party be the great tent it claims to have become.

Sears’ victory in her election was an indication that she would make a powerful leader. Interview with The New York TimesShe discussed how to get the conservative message out to the black community. “The message is important,” she said. “But the messenger is equally important.”

The Times wrote:

That is the central question Ms. Sears is asking: Is she an individual who won a surprising victory, or one of the pioneers of major political realignment that dismantles longstanding realities of race and party identification? Democrats argue that the evidence is not strong enough to prove it, but Ms. Sears did win with typical Republican voters during a particularly Republican year. But Ms. Sears insists that many Black and immigrant voters naturally side with Republicans on a variety of issues — and that some are starting to realize that.

“The only way to change things is to win elections,” she told tThe Times. “And who better to help make that change but me? I look like the strategy.”

Sears observed that the GOP does not often attempt to harm the relationships between black Americans with the Democratic Party. This partly motivated her decision to run for office.

“I just took a look at the field, and said, ‘My God, we’re gonna lose again,’” she said. “Nobody was going to reach out to the various communities that needed to be heard from: women, immigrants, you know, Latinos, Asians, Blacks, etc.”

Sears is right in her assessment about the lack of outreach to the rest of America, but I’ve seen some promising signs that this trend is changing. Unlike what Democrats would have you think, she is an indicator that, in the words of Bob Dylan, times are a-changin’ on the right. While the change may take time, it is possible to push the GOP into a more progressive strategy. This will allow conservatives to win the support of a larger number of American voters.