Former Representative Elaine Luria won the Democratic nomination for the Second Congressional District of Virginia on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, setting up a high-stakes general election rematch against Representative Jen Kiggans, a Republican, in one of the most competitive House districts in the nation.
Ms. Luria, who served in the U.S. Navy, was part of a class of moderate military veterans who helped Democrats flip the House in 2018. In Congress, she took on a prominent and politically risky role serving on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, saying at the time that “If I don’t get re-elected because of this, that’s OK.”
She did lose in 2022 as redistricting helped Ms. Kiggans, also a Navy veteran and a former helicopter pilot, defeat Ms. Luria in the Virginia Beach-area district.
The district, which is home to one of the highest concentrations of military veterans in the country, is the most competitive in Virginia. It tends to flip back and forth between the parties, and it is widely regarded as a genuine swing district again this year.
In one potentially encouraging sign for Democrats, Abigail Spanberger — a Democrat who served with Ms. Luria after also being elected to the House in 2018 — performed strongly in the area during her successful race for governor last year.
President Trump has never won a general election in Virginia, a state with tens of thousands of federal employees that was hit hard by his administration’s cuts to the federal work force, though he appeared to have won the Second District by less than one percentage point in 2024, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project.
As Mr. Trump’s approval rating continues to sink nationally, Ms. Luria has sought to tie Ms. Kiggans to his administration at every turn.
Ms. Kiggans promised when she was sworn in that she would demonstrate “independent leadership” in Congress — a pledge, Democrats argue, she has not upheld.
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