VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — With less than 70 days until Election Day, both candidates running in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District were in Virginia Beach on Friday, focusing on health care and the ongoing war with Iran.
Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans and Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Trump administration health care leader, were at Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach for a roundtable discussion with health care providers. The two also announced $122 million in federal funding for rural health care across Virginia.
The money comes through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program and will go toward expanding access to care, growing the health care workforce, and investing in new technology.
Kiggans said the funding will help provide access to quality health care in rural parts of the state.
“We need to make sure that money is going to fund our rural health care, keep doors open when we can, reform when we need to, and incentivize providers also to be able to work in those spaces,” Kiggans said. “That’s probably the most proud work I’ve done to be able to provide that funding.”
Across Virginia Beach, Democratic candidate Elaine Luria addressed rural health care during a campaign press conference.
Luria said changes to Medicaid funding could put additional pressure on rural health care providers, including hospitals at risk of closing.
“There are seven rural health centers in Virginia that are at risk of closing, and the one, the Southampton Medical Center, is at risk of closing,” Luria said. “The number one reason it's at critical risk of closing is the loss of Medicaid funding. One trillion dollars of Medicaid funding has been cut over the next ten years.”
Luria's main focus on Friday was speaking with veterans about the ongoing war with Iran, which she said has made the country less safe.
“There are so many ways in which this has made us less safe, and we have to put a stop to this war,” Luria said. “We have to have leadership in Washington who will stand up to this administration and make sure that this does not continue endlessly like the previous endless wars that President Trump in his very own campaign remarks, said he would not get us into.”
Kiggans said she supports U.S. military personnel and wants to see the conflict end, but said Iran cannot be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons.
“I know that there are a lot of voices in the room right now. These negotiations are ongoing,” Kiggans said. “I’d like to see that conflict wrap up so we can bring our military men and women home, but while they are sent in harm’s way, I stand with them every day of the week. I am proud of the job they are doing.”
Kiggans said the United States’ original reason for entering the conflict remains the same.
“We go back to the original reason of why we are in Iran, Iran cannot have nuclear weapons,” Kiggans said.
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