VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria is seeking her third term in Congress, but her re-election is complicated by the redrawn boundaries of Virginia's 2nd Congressional District.
That's because all of the reliably blue precincts in the city of Norfolk are gone, and shifted to the 3rd Congressional District, which is held by Rep. Bobby Scott.
"This is one of the seats Republicans are hoping to pick up," said Old Dominion University Political Science Associate Professor Jesse Richman.
He said that prospects for a Republican pick-up are "pretty good" in the 2nd District.
"Luria has to significantly outperform what a typical Democrat would accomplish to win this seat," Richman said.
During this race, Luria pointed to her record of fighting for the military and veterans. She's also going on the offensive over the Supreme Court Hobbs decision striking down constitutional protections for abortion.
"Jen Kiggans has been very clear and unambiguous that she does not support any type of choice, that she does not think women should have access to abortion under any circumstance including rape, incest and even including risk to the life of the mother," Luria said.
State Sen. Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia Beach) hopes to flip the seat into the red column, citing the economy, the border and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as reasons.
"The guy who's in the White House right now, his policies and what Elaine Luria has voted for, she's voted with Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden 98 percent of the time," Kiggans said. "Those policies, they are going to own. All the Democrats will own them this November. We've got midterm elections coming up and it will be a referendum on Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Elaine Luria and all those failed policies."
The 2nd District enjoyed stability for decades, with only Bill Whitehurst and the late Owen Pickett holding the seat for 32 years.
Since then, over the past two decades, six people have held the seat, including Luria.
The election is still more than ten weeks away: Tuesday, Nov. 8.