Virginia's most vulnerable Democrat, Rep. Elaine Luria, will not be returning to Congress next term. She was defeated by her Republican opponent, state Senator Jen Kiggans, who won with a larger margin this year than Luria did in the previous races that she won.
The race was called by Decision Desk HQ late on Tuesday night. With over 99 percent of the vote, Kiggans won with 52.13 percent of the vote to Luria's 47.87 percent of the vote.
Luria was first elected in 2018 with what was considered a blue wave, running against Republican Scott Taylor in year and in 2020, with a little over 51 percent of the vote each time.
Even The New York Times acknowledged Luria's vulnerability over the summer, given her role on the January 6 select committee. Not only will Luria not be returning to Congress next year, but neither will Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), given that they retired, in addition to Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), the committee's vice chair, who lost her primary in August by almost 40 points to Harriet Hageman. Decision Desk HQ also called the race in favor of Hageman for the general election.
In her victory speech, Kiggans focused on what President Joe Biden could have only dreamed of when he claimed he ran for president to unify the country, only to then demonize Republican opponents in various speeches leading up to the midterms.
"To those of you who voted for my opponent: I know there are important areas where we may disagree, but I hope to earn your respect, and maybe, in time, your future support," she said early on. "To every Virginian living in the 2nd district, I pledge that I will spend every day serving you and working to make your life better and our region stronger."
She touched upon such points of unity in listing off all the reasons why she ran as well. "I ran because I believe it is so important to focus on the things that unite us and what is best for our country," Kiggans said, also sharing "I ran because it is wrong to demonize people with different political ideologies and weaponize our beliefs against each other."
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Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), who endorsed and campaigned for Kiggans in addition to a multitude of other Republican candidates in Virginia, wished Congresswoman-elect Kiggans well over Twitter on Tuesday night.
Congratulations to Congresswoman-elect @JenKiggans! pic.twitter.com/TjT12uJpF6
— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) November 9, 2022
From lying about her opponent's position on abortion and using people in ads who couldn't even vote in the district, to praising Biden despite his lack of popularity in Virginia, and outlandish debate performances, Luria ran a desperate campaign. She was also one of the first members added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)'s frontline member program in March of last year, reserved for vulnerable incumbents.
As a "Toss Up," race that even had forecasters changing their predictions to favor the Republican, this was one of the most worthy House races to watch in Virginia and the country, and it certainly delivered.
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