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Virginia set to see a historic Lieutenant Governor's race

A woman of color has never been elected to hold the state's second-highest office. Either Republican Winsome Sears or Democrat Hala Ayala will change that.

NORFOLK, Va. — After Tuesday's primaries, the Democratic and Republican candidates are now set for Virginia's November general election. And the race for lieutenant governor, in particular, won't be like any other one in Virginia history.

A woman of color has never been elected to hold the state's second-highest office. Now, there are two women of color who are in the running for it.

Delegate Hala Ayala won the Democratic Party's nomination on Tuesday. She'll face off against the Republican candidate, Winsome Sears. Sears is a former delegate who represented part of Hampton Roads.

Sears is Black and was born in Jamaica, while Ayala is the daughter of a Salvadorian and North African father and an Irish and Lebanese mother.

The official duties of Virginia's lieutenant governor are to preside over the Senate and to succeed the governor if the governor were to leave office for any reason before the term is over.

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