By Canadian Press

Kiggans snags GOP nomination to face Virginia’s Rep. Luria

Jun 21, 2022 | 5:45 PM

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — State senator and Navy veteran Jen Kiggans won the Republican nomination Tuesday in Virginia’s coastal 2nd Congressional District.

Kiggans, a nurse practitioner, will go on to face incumbent Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria in what’s expected to be a competitive general election contest that could help determine which party controls the U.S. House.

She defeated three opponents, including far-right Jarome Bell, who called himself the “MAGA candidate” and had called for executing anyone involved in what he claimed was widespread voter fraud.

Luria is also a Navy veteran. She’s currently on the Jan. 6 committee investigating the 2021 attack on the Capitol and has cultivated a congressional identity as a centrist since flipping the district blue under its previous lines in 2018. She’s expected to face a tough challenge under the district’s new lines.

The 2nd District covers much of Virginia’s coast, including the city of Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore.

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia voters are set to pick Republican nominees Tuesday for two races expected to be among the year’s most competitive for U.S. House seats.

Voters will winnow a four-person field in the coastal 2nd District and a six-person field in the central 7th District to take on centrist Democratic incumbents Elaine Luria and Abigail Spanberger. The general election races could help determine which party controls the U.S. House.

“The path to flipping the U.S. House goes through Hampton Roads, through VA-02,” a confident state Sen. Jen Kiggans, the presumptive 2nd District primary frontrunner, said in a recent interview. “I understand the gravity of that, and that’s why we’ve been working hard.”

Kiggans is a former Navy helicopter pilot and a geriatric nurse practitioner who has served in the state Senate since 2020. Her Tuesday opponents are all veterans as well. They include Tommy Altman, a Virginia Beach tattoo shop owner; Andy Baan, a former prosecutor who retired as a captain from the Navy; and Jarome Bell, a retired Navy chief petty officer who calls himself the “MAGA candidate.”

Former President Donald Trump hasn’t endorsed in the 2nd or 7th districts.

Several voters who spoke with The Associated Press said they were backing Kiggans because they thought she was the best positioned to flip the district in November.

Marianne Winn, 83, said Kiggans came to her home while campaigning and showed concern for senior citizens as well as nursing homes. Winn said she’s also particularly concerned about what she called President Joe Biden’s failure to deal with rising inflation, particularly food prices.

“I buy chocolate morsels to make chocolate chip cookies,” said Winn, who retired from working in an elementary school cafeteria. “They were $2.25 and now they’re $3.58 …. Everything has gone up.”

The 2nd District covers much of Virginia’s coast, including Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore. GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin won it by more than 11 points last year, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.

The 7th District was entirely reshaped thanks to redistricting, which shifted it away from the Richmond suburbs. It now covers a stretch of cities and counties between Charlottesville and the Washington suburbs, and the GOP nomination fight there is seen as more unsettled, with several contenders claiming momentum.

State Sen. Bryce Reeves, an Army veteran and former police detective, is facing off against Derrick Anderson, a former Green Beret and Georgetown Law graduate, and Yesli Vega, a local elected official with law enforcement experience who’s picked up high-profile endorsements. Also in the race are Crystal Vanuch and David Ross, who serve on local boards of supervisors, and Gina Ciarcia, an educator who has trailed the pack in fundraising.

A former CIA officer, Spanberger like Luria flipped a competitive GOP-held seat in 2018 and is now competing under lines that Youngkin would have won, according to the Virginia Public Access Project’s analysis.

Spanberger said in a statement that she was focused on responding to the needs of her constituents.

“No matter who wins on Tuesday night, they will have little impact whatsoever on my service to our Commonwealth and my continued focus on the concerns of Virginia families, businesses, and seniors,” Spanberger said.

Also Tuesday, Republican Rep. Ben Cline, who currently represents the Shenandoah Valley-based 6th District, faces a challenge from Navy veteran Merritt Hale. And voters in the overwhelmingly blue-leaning 3rd District will be choosing between candidates Terry Namkung and Ted Engquist to take on incumbent Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott.

Several of Virginia’s other crowded GOP nomination contests have already been settled during party-run processes.

No Democratic incumbent but Don Beyer, who represents the heavily Democratic northern Virginia 8th District, faces a primary challenger. Progressive first-time candidate Victoria Virasingh is competing against the four-term incumbent and former lieutenant governor for the nomination.

After Tuesday, the two major parties will be set to have a candidate in each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts.

Polling hours are from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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Associated Press reporter Ben Finley contributed to this report.

Sarah Rankin, The Associated Press