January 8th , 2026 Len’s Political Note #780 Elaine Luria Virginia 02
2026 General Election
Elaine Luria was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. The city was founded in 1871 and was intended to be a force for industrializing the reconstructed South.
In the Birmingham area that Elaine Luria’s great grandfather moved to in 1907, there were business opportunities. He sold goods to coal miners and to steel workers. About half the coal miners were Black as were an even larger percentage of the steel workers. This was not an egalitarian society. The communities were segregated as were the work places, with whites holding on to the supervisory jobs.
Elaine Luria’s grandfather, her mother’s father, founded a Jewish Reform congregation in Jasper, 40 miles northwest of Birmingham. His children and grandchildren moved to Birmingham, joined Temple Emanu-El, and became part of the city community. Her father ran a prosperous scrap iron business. Elaine Luria’s mother was busy with Jewish communal organizations – particularly the National Council of Jewish Women and Hadassah. Elaine was sent to the nearby day and boarding Indian Springs school.
There was nothing conventional in Elaine Luria’s path. In high school, she was a star math and science student. From Indian Springs she went to the Naval Academy. After the Naval Academy, she attended the Navy’s Nuclear Power School. And after that, she earned a Master’s Degree in engineering management.
Elaine Luria was a Jewish sailor. She spent her career on nuclear powered ships, managing their nuclear power systems. She completed her career spending three years in command of an Assault Craft unit. Most Passovers, she led a seder on the ship, even. In at least one instance, when planes were taking off for Iraq. She never had a desk job.
Elaine Luria did have a family. Thirty years old, she married fellow Naval officer Robert Blondin, who she met at Old Dominion University. Their daughter was born four years later. They raised her and remained connected with Blondin’s already grown two older children from his previous marriage.
The couple had a house in Norfolk, Virginia where they retired and opened a business – the Mermaid Factory where tourists and sailors could paint their own mermaid. She told the local Jewish News that her plans were to grow the business along with her husband and her stepdaughters.
Less than a year later, she was elected to Congress. There is no single identifiable reason why Elaine Luria left the business to run for Congress. It was 2018. A slew of Democrats, many of them women, decided to enter politics in reaction to Donald Trump being elected President in 2016. Something was off about the local Congressman and former Navy SEA Scott Taylor. A staffer was accused of campaign improprieties and was eventually convicted. The owner of the building next door to the Mermaid Factory, Michael Millard-Lowe, a prosperous antique dealer was a well-known Republican with traditional Republican views including support for gun safety. He was also an enthusiast about the Mermaid Factory business and an advocate for his very smart and hard-working neighbor. When Elaine Luria decided to run for Congress, though she was a Democrat, he supported her, even campaigned regularly with her. Had he encouraged her to run for Congress?
Elaine Luria defeated Scott Taylor by a 51-49 margin. She defeated him again in 2020 by a 52-48 margin. But redistricting had an effect on the 2022 election. Virginia had changed its constitution to create a redistricting commission that would create new districts after the census. The newly created commission could not agree on congressional maps. Following the rules of the constitutional amendment, the state supreme court and the Masters they appointed would become responsible for drawing the districts.
The two Masters insisted they created maps that were blind to who the incumbents and blind to the political parties. Nevertheless, they said they anticipated a 6-5 Democratic edge rather than the 7-4 edge that the Democrats held at the time.
Their prediction for 2022 was accurate. Democrats won six seats; Republicans 5. The seat the Republicans gained was Virginia 02. Republican Jen Kiggans defeated Elaine Luria 52-48,
In 2018, Elaine Luria had entered with a class of security oriented new members of Congress. Among them were
- Mikie Sherill of NJ, an ex-Navy helicopter pilot,who was recently elected governor of that state
- Abigail Spanberger of VA, an ex CIA agent who was recently elected governor of that state
- Elissa Slotkin of MI, an ex CIA agent and now Senator from that state
- Chrissy Houlihan of PA, an ex Air Force officer who is still in the House of Representatives
- Jason Crow of CO, an ex Army Ranger, who is still in the House of Representatives
- Jared Golden of ME, an ex Marine who will not be running in 2026 to return to the House.
The rest are no longer active in elective politics, though Max Rose of NY did ran for his former position, but lost.
Elaine Luria is running again for Virginia 02 and brings her record from her four years in Congress. Many of her positions and actions appealed to her Lean Republican and conservative constituents. She was the only Democrat to oppose repealing the authorization of the use of force in Iraq, She continues to be a strong supporter of Israel, was among the Democrats who favored some kind of. physical barrier at the southern border, and expressed disdain for the idea of prohibiting Members of Congress from trading stocks.
Elaine Luria is a Democrat. She favors gun safety legislation. She supports legislation for mitigating the impact of climate change and for slowing the rate of change. She puts the climate issues in the context of their impact on military readiness and international instability. In 2019, she called for an impeachment inquiry regarding Trump’s behavior and she voted for impeachment, She served on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol.
Elaine Luria was a problem solver regardless of party. She introduced and got passed, with support from members of both parties, a change in the way the cost of living was calculated for Veterans’ pay. She participated in the bipartisan group that brought an end to the 2019 government shut down.
We need Elaine Luria back in Congress. She can point to the incumbent, Jen Kiggans’ support of the Big Beautiful Bill which eroded health care support to pay for continuing and increasing the Trump tax cuts. Kiggans holds onto her anti-abortion views and she outlasted an ethics complaint that she had used taxpayer funds to support her campaign. The Ethics Committee never acted on the complaint. Perhaps the voters will.
DONATE to Elaine Luria’s campaign.
I include only one other Virginia race. Mid-decade redistricting may put several other Virginia districts into play.
Virginia 07 Eugene Vindman was elected in 2024 to fill what had been Abigail Spanberger’s seat by a margin of 11,489 votes. He had been the Deputy Legal Advisor to the National Security Council and the senior ethics official. In the role of an ethics official, he advised his twin brother Alexander whose report about Donald Trump’s phone call attempt to coerce a Ukrainian announcement of an investigation of Joe Biden led to Trump’s first impeachment. Trump will use what resources he has available to defeat Eugene Vindman in 2026. DONATE to Eugene Vindman’s campaign.
Other nearby tight Congressional races
Pennsylvania 08. Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti is challenging first term Republican Rob Bresnahan. DONATE TO Paige Cognetti’s campaign. See Len’s Political Note #761
Pennsylvania 10 Former Television Anchor Janelle Stelson is challenging incumbent Scott Perry, perhaps the most complicit Congressman in Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. See Len’s Political Note #741
North Carolina 01. Incumbent Don Davis, already in a toss-up district, was the principal target of the NC legislature’s response to Donald Trump’s call to redistrict. Five Republicans believe they can defeat Don Davis. Don’t you believe it. DONATE to Don Davis’s campaign. See Len’s Political Note #721
North Carolina 11 Farmer Jamie Ager has a chance against the conservative incumbent Chuck Edwards who has been the object of complaints about his use of taxpayer funds for campaign purposes.
Ohio 01. With a divinity degree and a history of support for early childhood services Greg Landsman and hisCincinnati district is across the bridge from Kentucky and under siege. Greg Landsman won handily in 2024, but Ohio’s mid-decade redistricting has targeted him. Four Republicans think they can defeat him. DONATE to Greg Landsman’s campaign. See Len’s Political Note #766
