DUMFRIES, Va. (AP) — Republican Jen Kiggans has defeated Democratic Congresswoman Elaine Luria to represent coastal Virginia's highly competitive and newly drawn 2nd District.
Kiggans is a state senator, nurse practitioner and former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot. She defeated Luria, a fellow vet who served as a Navy commander, in one of the nation's most veteran-heavy districts.
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The seat covers much of Virginia's coast, including the Eastern Shore and the state's most populous city, Virginia Beach. However, it no longer includes the world's largest naval base in the neighboring city of Norfolk because of redistricting.
Political observers had labeled the closely watched race a toss-up. Luria had flipped the district blue under its previous lines in 2018. But under its new boundaries, Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin would have won it by more than 11 points last year, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.
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Luria had cultivated a congressional identity as a centrist. But Kiggans cast Luria as unwilling to buck President Joe Biden and what she described as the Democratic leader's "failed economic policies."
In Virginia's 2nd Congressional District, Jim Ross said he voted Republican because of the economy, specifically rising inflation and the wavering stock market.
"If I had known it would be like this, I would have bought an electric car and took all my money out of my retirement," said Ross, 61, a retired electrician in Virginia Beach.
Ross wants to send Kiggans to Washington to help stop Democrats from spending government money, which he believes contributed to high inflation.
"I can believe in the first stimulus packages," Ross in regards to pandemic-related relief. "But the last one I don't think they needed to do."
But Deborah McElroy, 72, of Virginia Beach, said Republicans are not offering any real economic solutions.
"What are they seeing that I don't?" said McElroy, who retired from a career in radiology and is an adjunct professor of medical terminology. "Whatever interest group offers (Kiggans) the most money, that's the way she's going. So how do they think she's going to help the economy? I must have missed it."
McElroy said she voted for Luria because the two-term Democrat is seasoned, makes an effort to be bipartisan and supports a strong military. Plus, Luria supports a woman's right to an abortion.
"I agree with her that it should be a personal choice," McElroy said.