RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Voters in Virginia on Tuesday will select Republican candidates in two races expected to be among the most competitive of the year for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Voters will sift out a four-person field in the Coastal 2nd District and a six-person field in the central 7th District to run against centrist Democratic incumbents Elaine Luria and Abigail Spanberger. The general election races could help determine which party controls the US House of Representatives.
“The path to flipping the US House is through Hampton Roads, through VA-02,” said a confident Senator Jen Kiggans, the 2nd Circuit’s presumptive frontrunner, in a recent interview. “I understand how serious this is and that’s why we worked hard.”
Kiggans is a former Navy helicopter pilot and geriatric nurse serving in the state Senate since 2020. Your opponents on Tuesday are also all veterans. They include Tommy Altman, tattoo shop owner from Virginia Beach; Andy Baan, a former prosecutor who retired as a Navy captain; and Jarome Bell, a retired Navy chief petty officer who calls himself the “MAGA candidate.”
Former President Donald Trump did not approve in the 2nd or 7th districts.
Don Lovett, 74, who lives in Smithfield, said in a recent interview that he tended to vote for Kiggans because of her military service and General Assembly experience, which he said made her more likely to beat Luria in November . Luria, also a Navy veteran, is a moderate staffer on the January 6 committee investigating the 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Lovett, who owns a company that sells specialty electrical instruments, said he sees little difference in the issues between the candidates but was put off by some of Bell’s harsh rhetoric, who has called for the execution of anyone who disagrees with one according to widespread voters were involved in the fraud.
“I’ll try to pick a good candidate for sure, but also the most viable candidate, especially if it’s going to be a close race, and I think it will be,” he said.
The 2nd District encompasses much of the Virginia coast, including the city of Virginia Beach and the East Coast. GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin won it by more than 11 points last year, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.
The 7th Ward was completely transformed thanks to the reorganization that took it away from the Richmond suburbs. It now stretches across a stretch of cities and counties between Charlottesville and the Washington suburbs, and the GOP nomination fight there is seen as more turbulent with multiple contenders claiming momentum.
State Senator Bryce Reeves, an Army veteran and former police detective, is up against Derrick Anderson, a former Green Beret and Georgetown law graduate, and Yesli Vega, a locally elected official with law enforcement experience who has received high-profile endorsements. Also in the running are Crystal Vanuch and David Ross, who serve on local boards of directors, and Gina Ciarcia, an educator who falls short of the crowd when it comes to fundraising.
Spanberger, a former CIA officer, like Luria, flipped a GOP-held seat in 2018 and is now running under lines Youngkin would have won, according to analysis by the Virginia Public Access Project.
Spanberger said in a statement that she is focused on serving the needs of her constituents.
“No matter who wins Tuesday night, it will have little impact on my service to our Commonwealth and my continued focus on the causes of families, businesses and seniors in Virginia,” Spanberger said.
Also on Tuesday, US Republican Representative Ben Cline, who currently represents the 6th District in Shenandoah Valley, faces a challenge from Navy veteran Merritt Hale.
Several other crowded Virginia GOP nomination contests have already been settled during partisan processes.
Not a Democratic incumbent, but Don Beyer, who represents the heavily Democratic 8th Circuit in northern Virginia, faces a major challenger. Victoria Virasingh is up against the four-term incumbent and former Lieutenant Governor for the nomination.
After Tuesday, the two major parties will have a candidate in each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts.
Voting times are from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m
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Associated Press reporter Ben Finley contributed to this report from Norfolk.