Democrat · Virginia's 2nd District · 2026
Elaine Luria
Luria helped turn a block of clay on her kitchen table into the Mermaid Factory, a family business in Hampton Roads.
Biography
Elaine Luria's Mermaid Factory began with a block of clay on her kitchen table and grew into a family business in Hampton Roads.1 Her other career took her aboard destroyers, cruisers and aircraft carriers as a nuclear trained Navy surface warfare officer.1 She deployed six times to the Middle East and Western Pacific during twenty years of naval service.1
Luria retired in 2017 as a commander after leading a unit of roughly 400 sailors that supplied assault craft supporting the Marine Corps.1 She ran for Congress in 2018 and served two terms before Republican Jen Kiggans defeated her in 2022.2
Her congressional work included service on the Veterans' Affairs Committee and support for the PACT Act's expansion of veterans' health benefits.3 She also helped establish the bipartisan Offshore Wind Caucus and supported funding for the Chesapeake Bay and infrastructure designed to withstand rising seas.3
Luria's return campaign emphasizes lower household and prescription costs, protecting Social Security and Medicare, and improving services for veterans and military families.3 She opposes offshore drilling and wants Congress to serve as a check on foreign wars she considers reckless.3 Her November opponents are Republican incumbent Jen Kiggans and independents J. Matt Baker and Bishop Staten.4
Record and controversies
Corporate PAC pledge and stock trading position
PolitiFact reported in February 2021 that Luria accepted $34,000 from corporate PACs after her 2020 reelection, despite repeatedly pledging during her 2018 campaign to reject such donations.5 Her campaign manager said the pledge applied only to the 2018 race, that she fulfilled it then, and that the later donations helped pay campaign debt.5
By October 2026, Luria had reversed her earlier opposition to a congressional stock trading ban, AP reported.6
Former nonprofit position disclosure
In January 2022, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Luria's omission of a former nonprofit leadership position from financial disclosures.7 Her office had declined comment when the omission was reported in December 2021.8
A May 15, 2022 amendment to her 2019 disclosure listed her as president of Tidewater Montessori High School's exploratory committee.9 A confirmed agency investigation, finding or sanction was not verified in this review.