Free Republic

On Saturday, Winsome Earle-Sears, a Black Republican woman, took the oath of office to become Virginia’s 42nd lieutenant governor. She is Virginia’s first female lieutenant governor and the first immigrant to win statewide office in Virginia. But being Black and Republican is what’s gotten a lot of attention — even though that’s not as unusual as many believe. Sears is actually Virginia’s third Black lieutenant governor, and she succeeds another Black lieutenant governor. Boyd Rutherford and Mark Robinson are also Black Republican lieutenant governors, serving in Maryland and North Carolina, respectively. And Black Republican women — Jenean Hampton, Jennette Bradley...

At his inauguration as Maryland’s 62nd governor, Republican Larry Hogan promised to usher in an era of bipartisanship and cooperation in a state capital dominated by Democrats, even as he outlined an unabashedly conservative pro-business agenda. “We must get the state government off our backs and out of our pockets so that we can grow the private sector, put people back to work and turn our economy around,” Mr. Hogan said in a speech delivered on the steps of the State House. As he began his speech amid a flurry of snowfall that dusted the crowd, Mr. Hogan with a...