Does evolution require sexual reproduction?

Reproduction is necessary in evolution. In order for a species to evole, they have to pass on their traits to the next generation. While other types of reproduction are possible, sexual reproduction is important. I do see a valid argument you have presented in the answer you gave, I just wonder if a better answer that was not only sometimes true could have been chosen.

I believe your assessment is false based on the premise that bacteria do reproduce sexually sometimes. During conjugation, a plasmid gets transferred from one bacterium to another. I'm not sure, but you can make the argument if you like.

Evolution does not require sexual reproduction. The requirements for evolution are variation and a selective pressure.

Variation occurs simply by DNA copy errors in organisms that reproduce asexually. And selective pressures always exist.

So no evolution does not require sexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction, however, drastically increases the variety that can then be selected for (much more variation than simple copy errors). And the fact that sexual reproduction is so common is evidence of its efficacy in generating useful variation.

Sexual reproduction introduces variation in any population. That said, it fuels natural selection.