EXCLUSIVE: Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears of Virginia could make history next year as the nation’s first Black woman to win election as a governor.

She would also make history as Virginia’s first female governor.

But Sears, in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital, emphasized that “I’m not really running to make history. I’m just trying to, as I’ve said before, leave it better than I found it, and I want everyone to have the same opportunities I had.”

Sears, who was born in the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica and immigrated to the U.S. as a 6-year-old, served in the Marines and is a former state lawmaker. She made history three years ago when she won election as Virginia’s first female lieutenant governor. 

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“You’ve got to remember that my father came to America in ‘63 just 17 days before Dr. King gave his ’I Have a Dream speech,’ she said.

Sears noted that her father “saw opportunity here, even though… you really couldn’t, as a Black person, live where you wanted.”

“And yet, here I am, here I am sitting right now as second in command in the former capital of the Confederate States,” she said. “With me, we can see once again, there are still opportunities, still opportunities to grow, still opportunities to do even better. We are going to be better, not bitter. We’re not going to be victims. We’re overcomers.”

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Sears has a major supporter in popular Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who three years ago became the first Republican in a dozen years to win a gubernatorial election in Virginia, a onetime key swing state that had shaded blue in recent cycles.

From left: Terrence Sears; Virginia Lieutenant Gov. Winsome Sears; Suzanne Youngkin; Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin; Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares; and Page Miyares hold hands as the governor leads the group in prayer at the State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, on Jan. 15, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

But Virginia is unique due to its state law preventing governors from serving two consecutive four-year terms, so Youngkin cannot run for re-election next year.

Youngkin told Fox News Digital last month that Sears “is going to be a fabulous governor of Virginia.”

“I have to make sure that we have Winsome Sears as our next governor,” he emphasized. “I’m going to be campaigning hard.”

Making the case that Youngkin as a “successful businessman” has “brought that success to government,” Sears highlighted that “we want to continue what he has begun.”

“There’s still much work to do, still regulations that we’ve got to get rid of, still educational opportunities that are needing to be taken advantage of, and I am the one to carry that, because I’ve been part of that,” she added.

Sears was interviewed in Virginia Beach on Thursday, with a month to go until President-elect Trump returns to the White House.

In late 2022, she described Trump as a liability after Republican candidates that the then-former president had backed underperformed in the midterm elections. And she said that she would remain neutral in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.

“I supported him in 16 and in 20 why? Because I saw that he was good for our country,” Sears noted.

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But she added that Trump “said some things, and it bothered me. And as I said, I come at this as a Christian. And so I figured, well, let’s see if there’s somebody else.”

Sears pointed to July’s attempted assassination of Trump as the moment that changed her mind.

“I was waiting to hear a change, and after he was shot and he was accepting the nomination, I heard him say, ‘miracles are happening every day. I am one of those. God has spared my life. And so, I humbly ask for your vote.’ I was on board right then,” she emphasized.

Former President Trump is joined by his wife Melania following his address at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

But a top Trump supporter in Virginia, conservative radio host John Fredericks, has continued to criticize Sears.

“She’ll ruin Republicans’ chances in Virginia in 2025 and we need a different GOP candidate that REALLY has President Trump’s back,” he argued last month on his radio program and in a social media post.

Asked if she’d like Trump to campaign with her over the next 10 months leading up to the 2025 election, Sears said, “I think he’s going to be having a lot to do in, well, in D.C. And if he wants to come here, fine. If he wants to help, fine. I mean, you know, we could use all the help that we can get.”

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Sears, who launched her gubernatorial bid in early September, avoided a competitive primary when Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares announced last month that he would seek re-election rather than run for governor.

Three-term Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer, is her party’s candidate for governor.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, speaks at a campaign rally in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Nov. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston, File)

Spanberger announced 13 months ago that she would run for governor in 2025 rather than seek congressional re-election this year. While a Sears-Spanberger general election showdown is expected, recent reports indicate longtime Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott is mulling a gubernatorial run.

“We will see what shakes out on the Democrat side, but I will face whoever comes, because I believe that we have the better policies,” Sears said.

She is viewed by political pundits as more socially conservative than Youngkin, who hailed from the GOP’s business wing.

Asked if Sears was too far to the right for Virginia voters, Youngkin pushed back in his Fox News Digital interview, saying, “Not at all. And Winsome is a commonsense conservative leader. We have been partners literally from day one. We campaigned together. We were elected together. We have governed together.”

But the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), pointing to the criticism from Fredericks, who chaired Trump’s Virginia campaign in 2016 and 2020, argued that “Virginia Republicans are kicking off the 2025 election divided and already publicly calling out Winsome Sears.”

“This once again confirms that Sears will have to run even further to the right and take deeply harmful and out-of-touch positions to win the GOP nomination,” DGA national press secretary Devon Cruz claimed.

Sears, asked about the DGA criticism, which also includes spotlighting her stances on issues such as abortion and IVF, argued that “the Democrats are trying to figure out a way to hit me… I don’t worry about it. I let them say what they want to say. I am proven, proven to do the right thing.”

“I’ve always said I’m a Christian first and a Republican second. That’s always who I am,” she added. “So it must mean that I don’t care about politics. I care about serving.”

Two luxury real estate agents and their brother are accused of drugging and then sexually assaulting and raping dozens of women, according to a federal indictment filed last week and obtained by Fox News Digital. 

Tal, 38, and Oren Alexander, 37, two prominent jet-setting brokers in New York and Miami, and their brother Alon Alexander, Oren’s identical twin, were arrested in Miami Beach on Wednesday, Dec. 11. 

Prosecutors allege that the Alexander brothers “worked together, and with others known and unknown to repeatedly and violently drug, sexually assault, and rape dozens of victims” in New York, Miami and elsewhere, the indictment says. 

“This conduct, as alleged, was heinous,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said at a Manhattan news conference announcing the charges. 

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The Alexander brothers “arranged for these sexual assaults well in advance, using the promise of luxury experiences, travel, and accommodations to lure and entice women to locations where they were then forcibly raped or sexually assaulted, sometimes by multiple men,” including themselves, according to the indictment. 

At times, the brothers “physically restrained and held down their victims during the rapes and sexual assaults and ignored screams and explicit requests to stop,” the indictment continues.

According to the charges in the indictment, the three brothers had conspired in the sex trafficking scheme since at least 2010, but prosecutors filed a letter on Wednesday alleging that their sexual violence against women actually spans more than 20 years, dating as far back as when the men were in high school in Miami.

In the letter, prosecutors asked the court to deny the brothers bail, while also revealing additional details about their alleged crimes. 

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As adults, the Alexander brothers’ serial sexual violence only escalated, prosecutors added. After they graduated from college, all three brothers moved to New York City, although they continued to also maintain homes in Miami and split their time between the two cities.

“The evidence in this case also establishes that the defendants planned and paid for trips involving the interstate and international transportation of women on multiple other occasions,” prosecutors wrote in the letter. 

Oren Alexander, 37, center, and his twin brother, Alon, center-right, speak to their attorney Joel Denaro during their bond hearing after being charged with multiple state and federal crimes, including sex trafficking and rape, at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, in Miami. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP, Pool.)

One victim, called Victim-1 in the letter by prosecutors, reported being raped by Tal Alexander and “another man” in 2011 at the Alexander brothers’ vacation house in the Hamptons. Victim-1 had never met Tal Alexander before, and after arriving at the house “was given a glass of wine and drank about half of it before she began to feel unwell in a way inconsistent with drinking that amount,” according to the letter. 

Victim-1’s memory then became hazy, but she has several distinct memories of the night. Specifically, Victim-1 remembers being held down by Tal while another man entered the room, according to the letter, and recalls being in a second location with Tal and the other man and that a camcorder was set up. 

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Oren and Alon Alexander attend Jeff Gordon’s Last Lap on Nov. 22, 2015 at The Villa, Casa Casuarina in Miami Beach, Florida.  (Aaron Davidson/Getty Images for J Group)

Another woman, Victim-2, reported being raped by Oren Alexander in 2016 after she “began feeling strange and struggled to walk” after Oren handed her a cocktail. Alon Alexander then allegedly took the woman to a bedroom to lay down, and she later woke to find Oren in the room. Oren pulled down her bathing suit and raped her while she was “physically impaired and could not move,” and “struggled to speak,” the letter continued. 

Prosecutors said that “just weeks after the Alexander brothers sex trafficked and raped Victim-2,” the brothers, along with a number of other individuals, arranged to transport women to Tulum, Mexico. The brothers engaged in a group WhatsApp chat titled “Lions in Tulum,” referring to the Mexican resort town, in which they and other men attending the trip discussed “imports” of women and splitting the cost of lodging and flights for the women and providing drugs “that would make them more likely to engage in sex.”

Oren Alexander and his twin brother, Alon, attend a bond hearing after being charged with multiple state and federal crimes, including sex trafficking and rape, at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, in Miami. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP, Pool)

One of the drugs mentioned, “G,” which prosecutors believe is in reference to “GHB,” is defined as a “date rape” drug. 

“Are all girls getting shipped out on Sunday?” Oren Alexander said in one message, adding that he was “just trying to make sure I get max returns.” He said the price they were paying was “more than most of us ever spent on girls.”

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Oren and Tal Alexander co-founded the real estate firm Official, which offers luxury listings in places like New York City, the Hamptons, Miami and Los Angeles, in 2022 after rising through the ranks at Douglas Elliman, one of the largest real estate brokerages in the country, prosecutors wrote.

At Douglas Elliman, they secured significant brokered deals, including a nearly $240 million sale of a penthouse in 2019, which at the time was the most expensive residential sale in United States history. Alon Alexander, 37, did not work in real estate, but he socialized with them.

All three brothers live in “high-value” properties in Miami Beach and New York, prosecutors said. Tal Alexander rents an apartment inside a skyscraper on Manhattan’s “Billionaire’s Row,” while Alon and Oren Alexander live in properties in Miami Beach with “direct water access” and “private docks,” according to court filings. 

Tal and Oren took steps to conceal their crimes and protect their reputations in the real estate industry, prosecutors said. 

“The Government is aware, for instance, of at least one occasion in which Tal and Oren filed a police report alleging harassment against a woman who has described being forcibly digitally penetrated by Tal while Oren was in the room. Tal also threatened that victim with a defamation lawsuit if she did not stop telling people that he and Oren had sexually assaulted her,” according to the filing by prosecutors.

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Tal Alexander attends the Charity Gala for Ukraine people and culture at Scuola Grande Di San Rocco on April 21, 2022, in Venice, Italy.   (Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images)

All three brothers were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and a separate count of sex trafficking of one woman by force, fraud or coercion. In addition, Tal Alexander was charged with the sex trafficking of a second victim.

“Mr. Alexander will enter a not guilty plea and addressing these charges in the appropriate forum – a courtroom,” Isabelle Kirschner, representing Alon Alexander in connection with the indictment, told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

Attorneys Susan Necheles, representing Oren Alexander, and Joel Denaro, representing Oren and Alon Alexander in Florida, told Fox News Digital in a statement that a judge had granted them release from custody.

“A Florida judge today ordered Oren and Alon Alexander released from state jail. After two hearings, the state judge found that conditions can be put in place to ensure the safety of the community and Oren and Alon’s attendance in court, and ordered the two men be released on bail,” the attorneys said on Friday. “We are grateful and ready to begin to fight this case in court.”

Deanna Paul, an attorney for older brother Tal Alexander, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Williams said the investigation was ongoing and urged anyone with claims of sexual violence by any of the Alexander brothers to come forward.

A Florida mom and business owner was reportedly killed while trying to stop shoplifters at her beauty supply store, leaving behind two daughters and a husband just weeks before Christmas. 

Ilson Miriam Kim, 64, was trying to stop two thieves at her store, Beauty Max, in Jacksonville, Florida, in the evening on Dec. 6 before the shoplifters fatally ran her over with their vehicle. 

“Two individuals entered into the business, one of the individuals grabbed several items and ran out of the store with those items,” Sgt. Steve Rudlaff of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office told News 4 JAX. “A store employee followed this individual to her car which was ready for this person.”

At least three suspects were involved – two entered the store and one drove the getaway car, Rudlaff told the outlet. One of the suspects got into the car with the items stolen, while the third suspect left on foot. 

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Kim was taken to the hospital after being hit by the vehicle, but she succumbed to her injuries. 

Kim’s husband said the store had already been experiencing a recurring shoplifting problem, but a neighboring business owner said that this time, the victim had finally had enough and decided to take action by chasing after the suspects, according to Action News JAX. 

“She worked alongside her husband for much of her life, but Beauty Max was the first business she independently owned,” her family told the outlet in a statement, in part. “We don’t know exactly why she decided to confront the shoplifters, but the store had experienced thefts in the recent past.” 

Someone even had the “audacity” to steal from the store the day after Kim’s death, her family added. 

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Ilson Miriam Kim, 64, was trying to stop two thieves at her store, Beauty Max, in Jacksonville, Florida, in the evening on Dec. 6 before the shoplifters fatally ran her over with their vehicle. (Google Street View)

She immigrated to the United States from Uijeongbu, South Korea, in 1986 “in search of better opportunities,” according to an online obituary.

“Ilson was a proud mother, wife, businesswoman, and store owner,” according to a fundraising page for her family. “She taught her daughters the power of hard work, persistence, empathy and love; she exemplified these qualities with the grace and love she showed to others in her community on a daily basis.”

“The Kims are a strong, proud family and Ilson was a true matriarch who they must now learn how to navigate life without.”

The investigation is still ongoing, and no arrests have been made.