Jen Kiggans: Too Extreme for Hampton Roads

One of the closely watched Congressional races in the upcoming 2022 mid-term elections is that for Virginia's 2nd District that pits Democrat Elaine Luria (at left) against Republican Jen Kiggans (on the right).  While Kiggans may try to depict herself as somewhat moderate, her voting record and embrace of Donald Trump's "Big Lie" reveal a far different story.  Once the smoke screens are stripped away, Kiggans is a hard core Trumpist with all of the extreme baggage that label entails. In her primary campaign Kiggans bragged about her anti-gay bona fides and railed against "critical race theory" - something that has never be taught in Virginia's schools - in an effort to prevent an accurate teaching of Virginia and American history so as to appeal to white supremacists.  During the 2022 session of the General Assembly Kiggins introduced two bills to promote this extremism (thankfully, they failed to pass). The first sought to ban the teaching of “inherently divisive concepts” in public schools.  Translated, this bill sought to ban any teaching of racism in America and by extension any reference to LGBT individuals.   The second bill sought to ban transgender students from participating in school sports.  At the time the Washington Post note:

Breanna Diaz of the ACLU of Virginia charged that the bill targeting transgender athletes “strips trans athletes of their identity and dignity,” and warned that the “vague and overbroad” language in Kiggans’s “divisive concepts” bill would restrict teachers’ ability to teach about slavery, racism and LGBTQ issues if those topics were to be interpreted as “divisive.”

It goes without saying that the white supremacists and Christian extremists in the Vrginia GOP base will claim any teaching of accurate history and mention of LGBT individuals is "divisive."  Moreover, with marriage equality - and even interracial marriage - at potential risk in the face of the far right ideologue majority on the Supreme Court, Kiggans is ducking where she stands on these issues.  Once critic has noted: 

“Jen Kiggans is in hiding. She refuses to state where she stands on gay and interracial marriage – and Coastal Virginians deserve to know,” . . . . . “This isn’t the 1950s, it's 2022. Jen Kiggans will turn back the clock to a time when women were second-class citizens and it was illegal to marry the person you love. Her silence on same-sex and interracial marriage is unacceptable.

But extremism on social issues isn't Kiggans' only problem. Among other issues are the following:

Kiggans embraced the Big Lie, joining a tiny fringe group of lawmakers to push a dangerous “forensic audit” of the 2020 election that would cost Virginia taxpayers $70 million and threaten to toss out the votes of Virginia voters. On January 6, rioters attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election by force. Jen Kiggans tried to achieve the same goal in Virginia by joining a group of just four extremist Senate Republicans to vote for a “full forensic audit” of the 2020 election, which would have been presented to “a jury of local residents who have [the] power to declare the election valid or invalid.” Even though a previous audit already proved there was no voter fraud in Virginia’s 2020 general election and verified Biden’s victory, Kiggans did not directly answer when asked if she believed Trump won the 2020 election, instead saying she was focused on “restoring election integrity.”

Kiggans has used her official position to benefit industries that have funded her campaigns or lined her pockets... Kiggans accepted a contribution from GEO Group, a private prison management company, then voted in committee to kill a bill that would’ve abolished for-profit prison management  n Virginia. GEO Group was a Florida-based prison contractor and had been fined nearly $800,000 for breach of contract with the commonwealth. Kiggans voted against the Virginia Fairness in Lending Act, which fought predatory lending, after receiving $17,500 in campaign contributions and a gift worth $200 from GOPAC, a Republican PAC that received “substantial financial backing” from the payday loan industry. As a landlord who made up to $50,000 in rental income, Kiggans should be especially wary of conflicts of interest when it comes to her votes on tenants’ interests. But among her repeated votes against renters, Kiggans voted against helping tenants hold landlords accountable for unsafe housing conditions and opposed protecting tenants from eviction during the governor’s COVID emergency declaration, even as her state campaign accepted at least $6,000 from the rental property management industry.

Hampton Roads residents do not need someone like Kiggans in Congress.  Vote for Elaine Luria in November.