When a candidate invests millions in months-long messaging only to discover in a campaign’s waning weeks that it is not resonating with likely voters, the only options are to change gears or to throttle up and double down.
Two-term Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) says she is not going to back away from her campaign theme that American democracy itself is on the line in the Nov. 8 midterm elections across the nation, in Virginia, and in her tight reelection bid against Republican challenger state Sen. Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia Beach) in the commonwealth’s Congressional District 2 (CD 2).
While stumping in Virginia Beach a week before Election Day, Luria—who spent 20 years in the Navy, retiring as a commander—told reporters she will go down with the proverbial ship if voters are not alarmed about the “threat to democracy” she says is posed by Republicans, especially those who support former President Donald Trump.
Luria, who has played an active, visible role on the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 attack, was responding to an Oct.12-18 Christopher Newport University survey of 820 CD 2 likely voters that found 39 percent of respondents cited “inflation and the economy” as their top issue.
Of the 10 issues presented in survey respondents, abortion was second at 17 percent and “threats to democracy” a distant third at 14 percent. None of the other issues garnered double-figures as a top priority, including crime at 4 percent.
The survey found Luria and Kiggans deadlocked with 45 percent supporting each and 8 percent undecided in an election that features the first head-to-head congressional race between two women combat veterans in the nation’s history.
Kiggans served 10 years as a Navy submarine-hunting helicopter pilot during combat deployments, while Luria, a nuclear engineer, was a combat specialist during Iraq and Afghanistan war deployments.
Both served on ships based at Naval Station Norfolk. The world’s largest Navy base is partially within CD 2, which spans Williamsburg, Virginia Beach, and parts of Norfolk. Its electorate is dense with active duty and retired military veterans.
Post-2020 Census reapportionment of CD 2 appears to benefit Kiggans, who defeated three fellow military veterans in the GOP June 21 primary.
Areas of Democrat-leaning Newport News, Williamsburg, and Norfolk were shifted out of CD 2 with Republican-leaning Tidewater precincts added, including all of Isle of Wight County and parts of Southampton County.
Virginia CD 2 is among 36 Ballotpedia “battleground” congressional districts nationwide and, according to Cook Political Report, is among 22 “tossup” midterm House races for congressional seats now held by Democrats.
The Luria-Kiggans race in CD 2 is one of two key Virginia congressional races being closely watched nationwide. In nearby CD 7, two-term Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) is also in a “tossup” nail-biter in her reelection bid against Prince William Board Supervisor Yesli Vega, a sheriff’s deputy who led Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Latinos for Youngkin campaign.
The GOP has targeted Virginia’s CD 2 and CD 7—as well as CD 10, where underdog Hung Cao is giving Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) cause to sweat—in its goal to flip the Virginia congressional delegation’s 7-4 Democratic majority into at least a 6-5 Republican advantage on Nov. 9.
Doing so would also notch several of the five seats Republicans must gain on Nov. 8 to secure a 2023 majority in the U.S. House. That is why eyes countrywide will be watching as results in Virginia unfold on Election Night.
Luria has raised three times the money Kiggans has and continues to flood airwaves with ads warning that the nation’s democratic traditions are on the ballot.
According to the latest Federal Elections Commission (FEC) filings, Luria has raised $9.8 million compared to Kiggans’ $3 million.
During a Nov. 2 visit to the RNC Veterans Center in Virginia Beach with former Vice President Mike Pence, Kiggans dodged questions about whether she believes Trump’s 2020 election fraud allegations, as did Pence.
“We’re less than a week away from a great American comeback and it all goes through Norfolk, Virginia this year, when we elect Jen Kiggans to a Republican majority in the House of Representatives,” Pence said. “I’m incredibly proud of the Trump-Pence administration and while it did not end well in the end I see a Republican Party that is coming together as never before.”
“We need people to get out and vote right now. This race is tight. It’s been tight for a while,” Kiggans added. “It’s such a significant district as Vice President Pence said. If this district goes, so goes the U.S. House.”
While stumping with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin in late October, Kiggans said CD 2 voters aren’t paying attention to Luria or the Jan. 6 committee.
“Of all the doors we’ve knocked, we never hear any complaints about January 6. Economy, economy, economy,” she told reporters before acknowledging, “Joe Biden’s the president. He’s destroying the country. We say it every time.”
After her decade-long stint in the Navy, Kiggans completed nursing school and became a certified geriatric nurse practitioner. She was elected to the state Senate in 2019, representing the chamber’s 7th district, while working full-time as a nurse.
Her campaign’s platform calls for increased border security, lowering income and corporate tax rates, encouraging school choice expansion, and opposing critical race theory being taught in public elementary and secondary schools.
Much of Kiggans’ campaign advertising ties Luria to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a party-line Democrat who supports failed economic and dangerous “woke” policies.
A self-described moderate, much of Luria’s platform–like Kiggans’—reflects the same polar generics of partisan campaigns across the country.
In addition to warning voters about the “threat to democracy,” Luria espouses support for abortion access and her accomplishments in Washington where she has “been able to deliver for this district” in increasing the defense budget and expanding access to health care for veterans.
