VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The race for one of Virginia's most closely watched races for Congress is already kicking off, setting up a potential rematch between Republican Jen Kiggans and Democrat Elaine Luria.
Kiggans was elected to Congress in 2022 and four years later is running for a third term in Virginia's Second Congressional District.
On Sunday evening, she held a campaign kickoff in Virginia Beach featuring fellow lawmakers and former Governors George Allen and Glenn Youngkin.
"Our House Republicans have been doing the good and hard work. We recognize that things are too expensive. We recognize that we want you to keep more your hard earned money," Kiggans said.
Luria is back in the race. The Democrat represented the district for two terms until she lost to Kiggans in 2022.
"I got into this because every day I'm hearing from people across our community how the cost of living is going up," Luria said.
Currently, the district includes Virginia Beach, the Eastern Shore, parts of Chesapeake, as well as Suffolk, and communities to the west. In 2022, Kiggans beat Luria by about 3.5%.
Fast forward to this year, Virginia voters approved redrawing the state's congressional districts. The issue is being challenged in court, but if it does take effect, the new district would be bluer.
"We win this district either way I just want to put that out there. We pray for the Supreme Court to do the right thing, but we win either way," Kiggans said.
"It's very clear she has an uphill battle at this point to convince voters that she's been doing is the right thing," Luria said.
While the two certainly ran a hard-fought campaign against each other four years ago, partisanship hasn't lessened. Unfortunately, neither has political violence, including at Saturday night's White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C.
"There's never a place for violence rhetoric we've got to end this divisive rhetoric that we see," Kiggans said.
"It's an absolute tragedy. No one should ever resort to violence to resolve political differences we do that as Americans at the ballot box," Luria said.
Both still need to become their party's nominee with primaries being held in August, but if there is in fact a rematch, both believe they can win.
"I have never lost an election and I certainly don't plan to lose an election now," Kiggans said.
"I think we're running a clear campaign to send Jen Kiggans home," Luria said.
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