Incumbent U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria (D) and state Sen. Jennifer Kiggans (R) are running in the November 8, 2022, general election for Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District.
13News Now’s Preston Steger wrote, “While Luria won her 2018 election by two points and her 2020 election by nearly six points, her district became less favorable to Democrats after the lines were redrawn following the 2020 Census. The district encompasses Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Franklin, Isle of Wight County and the Eastern Shore.”
Luria was first elected to Congress in 2018. Previously, she served in the U.S. Navy from 1997 to 2017, reaching the rank of commander, and worked as a small business owner. Luria said her role on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol was part of why she was running for re-election: “It’s a very big responsibility and a very big responsibility for our democracy, for my constituents here in the district, and it does motivate me to understand that my service is incredibly important and we can’t allow those who would not uphold the rule of law to take over Congress in the future. That really is the foundation of why I’m motivated to continue this service.” Luria has campaigned on supporting veterans, strengthening the Affordable Care Act, increasing the federal minimum wage, and opposing oil drilling off Virginia’s coast.
Kiggans was first elected to the Virginia State Senate in 2019. Kiggans has worked as a geriatric nurse practitioner since 2012. Before that, she served in the U.S. Navy from 1993 to 2003. Kiggans has campaigned on cutting inflation and growing the economy, prioritizing border security, improving education, and pushing back “against Democrats’ efforts to defund or abolish our police departments.” Kiggans said, “The wasteful spending and tax increases must stop. The government mandates and expansion into our lives and business must stop. To stop these things and get our country back on track, we must have a change of leadership in Congress, and in the Second District, that starts with flipping this seat and firing Nancy Pelosi.” Kiggans completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey. Click here to read her responses.
Kiggans said Luria has campaigned as a moderate but voted with Democratic leadership: “The first vote she cast is for Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the house, and then she continues to vote with Pelosi 99% of the time.” Luria has criticized Kiggans for being one of four Republicans in the state Senate to vote for a failed budget amendment that would have allocated $70 million to an audit of Virginia’s 2020 general elections: “People really do understand what a threat this is to our democracy. My opponent is somebody who won’t say Joe Biden won the election—she’s like, ‘Well, he lives in the White House, but I wish he didn’t.'”
Election forecasters consider the district a Toss-up. The district has changed party hands four times since 2000. A Democrat has won the district in three of the last 11 elections, while a Republican has won the district in eight of the last 11 elections.
The outcome of this race will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 118th Congress. All 435 House districts are up for election. As of October 10, 2022, Democrats held a 220-212 majority in the U.S. House with three vacancies. Republicans need to gain a net of five districts to win a majority in the chamber.
Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have received 50.1% of the vote in this district and Donald Trump (R) would have received 48.2%.
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