VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.—On Election Day eve, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) zeroed in on Virginia. “This is the number one race I’m going to watch tomorrow night. Because when Jen wins, we win the majority,” he said at a Virginia Beach rally of hundreds for Jen Kiggans, a Navy veteran, state Senator, and the Republican challenger in the state’s 2nd Congressional District (VA-02).
He added that he had been to 40 states in the past two months supporting various Congressional candidates, but Kiggans’s district was his “number one place I want to be the night before the election.”
In the district with a heavy military presence covering Virginia Beach and nearby localities, Kiggans is challenging a two-term Democrat incumbent Rep. Elaine Luria, also a Navy veteran. The redrawn Congressional district is more Republican-leaning than two years ago.
“I’ve run an entire campaign off of restoring American strength,” Kiggans said, listed restoring the strength of the economy, at the border, in the communities, and supporting law enforcement. “And probably the most personal reason why I run—I talked about it all the time—is restoring strength in our military; it is so important,” she said to a cheering crowd.
Winning the Majority Starts From Virginia: McCarthy
Virginia Gov. Youngkin, who said that the Republican victory in last year’s gubernatorial race in Virginia would repeat across the nation, echoed McCarthy at the rally: “The road to the majority goes through Virginia, and it goes through the second Congressional district right here.”Winning the majority would start from Virginia because “results come out earlier, and we’ve got really good races here,” McCarthy later told The Epoch Times. Due to Virginia’s off-season legislative elections, the ballots are short. Therefore, the vote counts would complete sooner than in other states. Although mail-in ballots won’t be counted entirely in Virginia until Nov. 14, they are not expected to affect the VA-02 race.
McCarthy, at the rally, said that if Kiggins wins the seat, the “very first bill she’s going to vote on” is “to repeal 87,000 IRS” agents, referring to the GOP’s plan to unwind part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which allocates $80 billion to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over a 10-year period. The funding injection boosts the agency’s budget by sixfold, allowing it to hire up to 87,000 new agents.
The congressman said his 81-year-old mother would go to Costco every Wednesday and take pictures of the long line at the gas station and the gas price. “Then she texted me and asked me what I have done about it this week,” said McCarthy, adding that he often replied, “One more day, mom. One more day [to a Republican majority].”
Rallygoers
Caleb Fulford, a sophomore at the College of William & Mary pursuing a government and American studies double major, said he hadn’t decided whom to vote for. He had watched the candidates’ debates and been to Luria’s event. He said he is from a “heavily Republican” Navy family.“I don’t doubt her [Luria’s] patriotism for one second. What I do doubt is the efficacy of some of her policy platforms,” Fulford told The Epoch Times. For example, he would like to see more Congressional oversight from Luria as the vice chair of the Armed Services Committee on military issues such as the war in Ukraine and withdrawal from Afghanistan.
By attending Kiggans’s rally, he wanted to hear her vision for the 2nd Congressional District and her “military values.”
He attended the rally with two friends, Georgia Stone, a fellow student at William & Mary, and Autumn Parker, a student at the Tidewater Community College. All three will vote on Election Day. Unlike Fulford, Stone has decided to vote for Luria, and Parker for Kiggans.
Stone said she had a problem that Kiggans wouldn’t say that President Joe Biden had legitimately won the 2020 election. As a Democrat, she also doesn’t agree with Kiggans’ “more conservative social and economic policies.”
Both Stone and Fulford don’t like Kiggans’ conservative transgender policies. “It doesn’t represent what I think is moral and what we need to work towards and progress forward as a state,” said Stone.
Stone also doubted whether Kiggans would make a big change. “I’m not a huge Elaine Luria fan. But I just think she would be a better alternative,” she told The Epoch Times.
Parker, on the other hand, found Kiggans more relatable. “When she talks. I just feel something, and I know she makes me feel really passionate,” she told The Epoch Times. “I just feel like I prefer her a lot more [than Luria].”
David Testerman, a technician at Norfolk Navy Shipyard, listed education as a primary reason for his support of Kiggans. “I don’t believe in CRT [critical race theory] in schools. I don’t believe in SEL [social emotional learning]. And I don’t believe in trans in school participating in female sports. I think that’s wrong,” he told The Epoch Times at the rally.
Luria was also not focusing on issues Testerman cared about. “She doesn’t talk about inflation. She doesn’t talk about crime. She doesn’t talk about education. She doesn’t talk about males in female sports. Those are big issues.”
“I believe her [work in the] Jan. 6 committee has really impeded on what her actual duties are,” he added.
“And if standing up for what’s right means losing an election, so be it,” Luria said in her campaign ad released on Nov. 1. “If you’re looking for someone who'll just say anything, just to win, I’m not your candidate. If you support insurrectionists or call our military weak, I’m not your candidate. If you attack the FBI and defend Donald Trump, I’m not your candidate. And if you believe that the 2020 election was stolen, I’m definitely not your candidate.
“But if you believe that our democracy and Constitution are worth fighting for, and you want a congresswoman who always stands up for what’s right? I’m Elaine Lurie. I proved this message and am your candidate.”
Early voting ended in Virginia on Nov. 5. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.
