In a repeat of their 2018 matchup, Elaine Luria won Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District on Wednesday morning against former Republican Rep. Scott Taylor. She won with a 4.5-point margin.
Virginia’s 2nd District comprises Virginia Beach, Northampton, and Accomack counties. Luria was first elected to the House in the 2018 midterm election, when she defeated Taylor, then the incumbent, by a 51% to 48.8% margin. Ahead of Election Day, Luria polled ahead of Taylor, even though the Cook Political Report ranked the race as a “toss-up” until late October, according to the Washington Post. FiveThirtyEight showed Luria up by 8 points before the polls opened, with 52.8% to Taylor’s 44.8%. In 2016, President Trump won the district by 3 percentage points.
Before going into politics, Luria spent 20 years in the Navy. She retired at the rank of commander and then opened her own store, called the Mermaid Factory. She said that her time in the military made her “the clear choice to represent this military-rich district with the world’s largest navy base and among the highest concentration of veterans, including the largest number of female veterans nationwide.”
Luria was part of the “blue wave” that led Democrats to regain control of the House in 2018, but running in a district that went for Trump in 2016, Luria branded herself as a centrist Democrat. She was one of 18 Democrats to vote against the massive $2.2 trillion Heroes 2.0 bill the House passed, saying that the bill “would not deliver the targeted relief Americans need,” according to 13 News Now.
“This issue is too important to approach in a partisan manner. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come together to find common ground and provide relief for the American people,” Luria said.
Taylor, who served as a Navy SEAL, was a real estate broker before entering the political sphere. He was a Virginia state delegate from 2014 to 2016 before being elected to represent Virginia’s 2nd District in 2016. In the House, he became the first freshman member of Congress from Virginia to be appointed for a full term to the House Appropriations Committee. He represented Virginia until 2019, when he lost his reelection to Luria.
Taylor has been supportive of the president’s messaging on the coronavirus and on the consequences of lockdowns. He said during one of their debates that “the lockdowns were much more harmful than the actual pandemic.”
Taylor congratulated Luria on her victory, saying he hoped she is successful in her second term.
“Congratulations to Congresswoman Luria,” Taylor wrote in a statement. “Let us all hope that she is successful in her next two years as our representative in Washington.”
“There is currently a division in our nation that seems unbearable to many, but throughout our short American history, we have struggled through turmoil before,” he added. “Over time, I believe that the push and pull of democracy within our great, flexible republic strengthens the fabric of our society and keeps us heading in the direction of that ever elusive, more perfect union.”
Both coming from military backgrounds and fighting for a district with eight major military installations, the two candidates ran on campaigns that advocated for increased military spending. However, one of their biggest differences involved the president’s handling of the coronavirus.
