Ayala represents ingredients of Prince William County and claims Afro-Latina, Irish and Lebanese heritage. Her nomination additionally virtually ensures that Virginia will select its first feminine lieutenant governor — her Republican opponent is Winsome Sears, the first Black lady to receive an immense birthday party’s endorsement for statewide workplace.
In a press release issued after her victory, Ayala emphasized her personal story, as she did all through her campaign, together with her father’s death to gun violence and a harrowing being pregnant the place she relied on Medicaid for fitness care.
“I take note the struggles so many Virginia families face as a result of I’ve lived them,” she talked about.
Ayala ran for delegate after helping organize the girls’s March on Washington after Trump’s election in 2016. She went on to defeat a four-term incumbent, Richard Anderson, who now chairs the Republican birthday party of Virginia.
Late within the campaign, Ayala accepted $100,000 from Dominion energy’s political motion committee, regardless of a pledge to environmental group clean Virginia — which itself had donated $25,000 to Ayala’s crusade — that she wouldn’t do so.
Sears at once jumped on the difficulty, criticizing Ayala Tuesday night after her victory for taking Dominion’s cash.
“Delegate Ayala has proven that Virginians cannot trust her, that her pocket is key for lining, and that her loyalty can also be bought,” Sears talked about in a written observation.