Democrat Elaine Luria Retakes House Seat in Virginia Rematch

Elaine Lurie speaks at her campaign rally in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Saturday.Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/ZUMA Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. Democrat Elaine Luria has defeated Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans to represent coastal Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, reclaiming a seat she held for two terms before losing to Kiggans in 2022. With 88 percent of votes in, Luria was leading Kiggans by 5.3 percentage points in a closely watched rematch in one of Virginia’s most competitive congressional races. The district encompasses Virginia Beach, Hampton Roads, the Eastern shore, and parts of Chesapeake, and abuts the largest naval facility in the world, Naval Station Norfolk. A veteran Navy commander and former district representative from 2019 to 2023, Luria ran her campaign as a moderate Democrat, focusing her message on affordability, protecting Social Security and Medicare, national security, and coastal resilience. Her victory marks a return to Congress after a loss four years ago that many experts ascribe to redistricting. Kiggans, a former Navy pilot, was reelected in 2024. This year, she too campaigned on inflation, economic growth, and national security. Data from the non-partisan Congressional Quarterly Roll Call indicated that Kiggans aligned with President Donald Trump 95 percent of the time in 2025—a record confirmed by Kiggans’ campaign. She has also vocally supported the administration’s war in Iran, which remains deeply unpopular with Americans. Home to several of the nation’s largest military installations and one of the highest concentrations of military personnel and veterans in the country, VA-2 is heavily dominated by defense issues and military spending. As I reported last week, the district is also influenced by climate resilience, given its particular vulnerability to sea-level rise, flooding, and land loss: For over a decade, the coastal district, which encompasses Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads and borders Norfolk, has been on the frontline of climate change-induced sea-level rise, experiencing everything from “sunny-day” flooding to significant land sinking (making coastal areas even more vulnerable to flooding). Home to several of the nation’s largest military installations, and adjacent to the world’s largest naval facility Naval Station Norfolk, the region has been a flashpoint for what happens when rising tides potentially jeopardize military readiness. Or, as the Biden administration’s Department of Defense put it, Naval Station Norfolk is a “unique example of how the nation’s defense can be affected by the environment.” In Virginia’s 2nd congressional district, defense issues heavily shape election debates. But climate change sentiment might also play a part in this race, where 57 percent of adults believe that global warming affects sea level rise, and 55 percent believe that it also contributes to flooding, according to Yale’s Climate Opinions Map. Despite the tendency for Democrats to engage in what has been called “climate hushing,” which is to publicly subordinate the importance of climate change as an issue, almost half of voters in VA-2 believe climate change should be a high or very high priority for the next Congress. And while the district’s future House rep may not be able to reverse the Trump administration’s insistence that climate change is a “hoax,” the winning candidate could push the administration on climate resilience initiatives through mechanisms like defense appropriations, oversight hearings, and constituent advocacy. One of Luria’s top campaign priorities this election was to “Protect Hampton Roads and the Chesapeake Bay” from the effects of climate change and sea-level rise. According to reporting earlier this summer from Inside Climate News, Luria said that she would “continue to lead efforts to combat the economic and national security impacts of climate change on our local community.” The League of Conservation Voters has given Luria a lifetime score of 97 percent on pro-environment issues in Congress. Although previously part of VA-2, Naval Station Norfolk was moved to VA-3 following a 2020 redistricting amendment, a move that experts said contributed to Kiggans’ win over Luria in 2022. This past April, Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment that would have allowed lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional districts ahead of the 2026 elections in favor of Democrats, but the Virginia Supreme Court voided the referendum in May. Several days later, after Virginia Democrats asked the Supreme Court to weigh in, the justices refused the request, ensuring that the old congressional lines would apply in the 2026 elections. “Tonight, the voters of Virginia’s Second Congressional District made their voices heard loudly and clearly: The status quo in Washington is not working and voters have shown that Hampton Roads is ready for change,” Luria wrote on X. “Tomorrow, we start righting the ship.”