Perhaps no one at MSNBC suffered more on Tuesday night with the election results than ReidOut host Joy Reid, who took her vile bile went into overdrive as she called Republicans racists, “dangerous” human beings, and “national security” threats. But Wednesday afternoon on the Fox News Channel, Virginia Lieutenant Governor-elect Winsome Sears (R) fired back and challenged her to a debate, but wondered “if she is woman enough to do” it.
Of course, Reid and her primetime shift co-hosts ignored Sears and her historical candidacy as she ran to become (and will be) the first Black lieutenant governor and the first woman of color to hold statewide office in the Old Dominion.
Sears was appearing on The Story when host Martha MacCallum gave her an example of what Reid had said on MSNBC about the Youngkin/Sears ticket and their voters (which we covered here at NewsBusters):
You have to be willing to vocalize these Republicans are dangerous. That this is not a party that is just another political party that disagrees with us on tax policy. That, at this point, they’re dangerous. They’re dangerous to our national security because stoking that white nationalism eventually leads to the hard-core stuff.
Sears’s reaction was almost immediate: “I wish Joy Reid would invite me on her show. I — let's see if he is woman enough to do that.”
Adding that she’d “go in a heartbeat and we’d have a real discussion without Joy speaking about me behind my back,” Sears called out her claims about Sears’s party being racist before closing with a direct statement to Reid:
She talks about white supremacy. Does she know that I ran against a white supremacist? I mean, Joy. Come on. Get your facts straight and then come talk to me. I’m waiting for you.
MacCallum’s response? Well, it mirrored that of just about anyone who’s watched that clip: “Well, we hope she takes you up on it. You have a lot to say and a lot of people very inspired by your message last night and your win.”
Earlier in the segment, Sears more broadly confronted the left’s fixation on race (click “expand”):
[W]e are framing too many issues in terms of race and it just continues to divide us. And, unfortunately, politicians are using it as a tool because of the things that happened to us historically to advance, I would think, their nefarious purposes. If we stop looking at race and just looking at people because, you see, I’m destroying all the narratives about race. Look at me! Look at me! I am a heartbeat away from the governorship in case anything happens to the governor. And how are you going to tell me I am a victim...I wasn’t not born here. This is not my culture, not my country, but it allowed me — America allowed me to come and do for myself and my family. And I remember when I was wanting to go to college, I had three children under five. My husband took a lower paying job, so he could stay home because he already had his degree. And I put one of my children on the back of a bicycle so that I could get to college. So, no one can say I don't know what it is to be poor. You’re looking at the American dream! So, we can do better and it's not 1963...We’re always going to have problems. I understand. I’m not saying we are perfect but you can see those people at the border right now, trying to get in.
To see the relevant FNC transcript from November 3, click “expand.”
FNC’s The Story with Martha MacCallum
November 3, 2021
3:30 p.m. EasternWINSOME SEARS [from her victory speech]: When I joined the Marine Corps, I was still a Jamaican, but this country had done so much for me, I was willing — willing to die for this country. [SCREEN WIPE] U-S-A!
CROWD: U-S-A! U-S-A!
MACCALLUM: Republican Winsome Sears delivering an emotional speech as voters in Virginia elected her to be the lieutenant governor. Let's bring in Virginia’s lieutenant governor-elect, Winsome Sears. Very good to have you with us. Congratulations to you on your win. It was wonderful to see you with your beautiful family accepting the lieutenant governor win. Tell me did you felt this morning but woke up?
SEARS: Tired. [LAUGHS]
[MACCALLUM LAUGHS]
SEARS: I had only slept for maybe two hours and here comes the media wanting to talk about the race and I’m thinking, it feels like I’m campaigning all over again. I was losing my voice. You know, waking up at 4, 5:00 every morning and go, go, go.
MACCALLUM: Yeah.
SEARS: So, where, I thought I would be able to sleep in, no sir.
MACCALLUM: No sir, indeed. So, you know, obviously, there’s a lot of talk. You heard perhaps in the tease before our segment. You are the first woman of color, woman, lieutenant governor of — of Virginia. And I thought it was very interesting last night when you just said, you know, I am black, if you haven’t noticed — I think were your words — and then you said, but it's not about that. What did you mean by that?
SEARS: Because we are framing too many issues in terms of race and it just continues to divide us. And, unfortunately, politicians are using it as a tool because of the things that happened to us historically to advance, I would think, their nefarious purposes. If we stop looking at race and just looking at people because, you see, I’m destroying all the narratives about race. Look at me! Look at me! I am a heartbeat away from the governorship in case anything happens to the governor. And how are you going to tell me I am a victim and I didn't do anything special to get here except stay in school and study. I took advantage of the opportunities that are available here in America. I wasn’t not born here. This is not my culture, not my country, but it allowed me — America allowed me to come and do for myself and my family. And I remember when I was wanting to go to college, I had three children under five. My husband took a lower paying job, so he could stay home because he already had his degree. And I put one of my children on the back of a bicycle so that I could get to college. So, no one can say I don't know what it is to be poor. You’re looking at the American dream! So, we can do better and it's not 1963 when my father came at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, 17 days before Martin Luther King Jr. gave his I Have a Dream speech. We’re better than that. We’re always going to have problems. I understand. I’m not saying we are perfect but you can see those people at the border right now, trying to get in. They’re dying to get in because they know, if they can put a foot on American soil, the trajectory of their lives will change, just as it did for my father.
MACCALLUM: You know, here’s what Joy Reid said last night and I just want to get a quick response from, if I can, over on MSNBC about the Youngkin win and your win. Watch this.
JOY REID [on MSNBC, 11/03/21]: You have to be willing to vocalize these Republicans are dangerous. That this is not a party that is just another political party that disagrees with us on tax policy. That, at this point, they’re dangerous. They’re dangerous to our national security because stoking that white nationalism eventually leads to the hard-core stuff.
MACCALLUM: Your reaction to that, Ms. Sears?
SEARS: I wish Joy Reid would invite me on her show. I — let's see if she is woman enough to do that. I’d go in a heartbeat and we’d have a real discussion without Joy speaking about me behind my back, if you will. She talks about white supremacy. Does she know that I ran against a white supremacist? I mean, Joy. Come on. Get your facts straight and then come talk to me. I’m waiting for you.
MACCALLUM: Well, we hope she takes you up on it. You have a lot to say and a lot of people very inspired by your message last night and your win. Winsome Sears, the new Lieutenant Governor, when you’re sworn, of the state of Virginia — of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Thank you so much for being here today. We look forward to speaking you with in the future. Thank you, ma’am
SEARS: Thank you, Martha.
MACCALLUM: You bet.
SEARS: And thank you to your viewers.
MACCALLUM: You bet. Thank you. Congratulations.
