CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – After 14 exhausting and emotionally-draining months on the campaign trail in a failed bid to become Virginia’s Governor, Winsome Earle-Sears certainly could have stepped out of the political spotlight.

Instead, the 62-year-old retired Marine is back traversing the Commonwealth, urging voters to reject a pair of Democrat-back amendments to the state constitution, one that would guarantee access to abortions and one that would assure marriage equality.

“She’s on a mission,” Earle-Sears’s husband, Terence, told Cville Right Now. “She just wants to educate people on what these amendments really say.”

Friday night, Earle-Sears appeared at an event in Albemarle County, a gathering of about 30 people at First Free Coffee Bar, arguing that the proposed amendments would infringe on parental rights and endanger the safety of girls. Early voting in Virginia began Friday and runs until the Saturday before Election Day on Nov. 3.

Before speaking to the crowd, Earle-Sears told a supporter, “We may lose, but we’re never defeated.”

Earle-Sears served as Lt. Governor under former Gov. Glenn Youngkin. She declared her own candidacy for the Governor’s mansion in September 2024, but lost to Democrat Abigail Spanberger by 15.3-percentage points.

The constitutional amendments, the two she is opposing and a third that restores voting rights for convicted felons, were a major issue in the race for governor, and an overwhelming majority of Virginia voters appeared to back them, as Spanberger garnered 57.6% of the vote.

“Elections have consequences,” Earle-Sears told Cville Right Now before addressing the crowd. “If we didn’t know that before, we know that now. We understand that what happens on the federal level is one thing, and then we understand that we have a duty on the state level, on the local level, I don’t care if it’s Chief Dog Catcher, you gotta get out and vote.”

But during a 15-minute one-on-one interview Friday with Cville Right Now, Earle-Sears said she believed voters were only exposed to the “bumper sticker” summary of the amendments. Her current work is focused on educating people about the nuances of the proposed constitutional changes. She considers both unnecessary and harmful.

Winsome Earle-Sears
Winsome Earle-Sears

“When you look at these two amendments, you have to ask yourself, what problem are these amendments trying to fix?” Earle-Sears said. “Because the truth is, abortions are happening in Virginia right now. And same-sex marriage is happening in Virginia right now. And so what problems are these amendments trying to fix? The fact of the matter is, if these two amendments don’t pass, which I hope they don’t, abortions are still going to happen in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and same sex marriage. So what is the problem?”

Earle-Sears said the summary of the amendment that voters will see on their ballots isn’t sufficient for them to make informed choices.

In the abortion amendment, Earle-Sears noted the language guarantees “an individual” the right to access to abortion. It does not specify “an adult.”

“Words have meaning,” Earle-Sears said. “There is a difference between saying, any adult is entitled to reproductive freedom, as opposed to any individual, individual captures both male and female, and it captures minors and adults.”

She also flagged the fact that the amendment protects “any individual who aides or assists in the abortion” from prosecution. 

“That means that your underage daughter can be taken by anybody for an abortion without you being notified as a parent,” she said. “Forget you getting your approval. They just take them.”

Earle-Sears said the marriage equality amendment has similar issues with specific language.

“It says sex and gender. Why is that?” she said. “Why don’t you just stick with sex? Because the definition of sex would be hormones. So, we’re talking about the male and female hormones. Then it talks about chromosomes. We’re talking about XX, X, Y, you know? And then it also talks about, wait for it, body parts. What did you come into this earth with? That’s sex. But then they decided they wanted to add another category called gender. Why would you put that in there?”

It was all enough to get Earle-Sears back out on the campaign trail, though she said she’s found this work easier than running for office herself.

“It’s important that we maintain our rights as parents,” she said, before taking the stage to address her supporters. “I have always said, ‘I don’t co-parent with the government.’ That’s what this is. We may have lost an election, but we are never defeated.”