Former Representative Elaine Luria, a Democrat and former Navy commander, defeated Representative Jen Kiggans of Virginia on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, flipping a Republican-held seat critical to her party’s quest to win control of Congress.
Ms. Luria won back the seat representing a military-heavy district in Virginia’s tidewater region after losing in 2022 to Ms. Kiggans, a former state senator and Navy helicopter pilot. At the time, Ms. Kiggans and the G.O.P. unsparingly tied Ms. Luria to President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s agenda, including his handling of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In this year’s rematch, it was Ms. Luria who yoked her opponent to an unpopular president and his administration. The Democrat blasted Ms. Kiggans for failing to break with President Trump over the Iran war despite the toll the conflict had taken on Virginia’s Second Congressional District.
Covering Virginia Beach and abutting Naval Station Norfolk, the district is intrinsic to the country’s Atlantic Fleet, which has shouldered a sizable share of the branch’s deployments to the Middle East.
The seat is often seen as a bellwether in the race to control Congress. Before this year’s election, the district had flipped between the parties four times since 2008.
On the campaign trail, Ms. Luria argued that Ms. Kiggans had repeatedly voted against resolutions directing Mr. Trump to end the war. She also slammed Ms. Kiggans for initially dismissing reports of unsafe conditions aboard the Abraham Lincoln, a San Diego-based aircraft carrier that was deployed for nearly 11 months.
Ms. Kiggans hoped to protect her seat by pitching herself as a common-sense lawmaker with a moderate reputation.
She also frequently tied her opponent to stock trades that Ms. Luria made while serving in Congress between 2019 and 2023, arguing that the Democrat had a record of serving herself over the district. Ms. Kiggans also criticized Ms. Luria for living outside the district in neighboring Norfolk.
But Ms. Kiggans was unable to shrug off her ties to Mr. Trump and the war, along with the downstream economic consequences of the conflict.
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