Newly-declared 2022 congressional candidate, Republican Jen Kiggans tells the Washington Post that she’ll use the twice-defeated playbook of former GOP establishment Rep. Scott Taylor to defeat incumbent Democrat Elaine Luria next November.
Kiggans, a Virginia Beach-based State Senator, will take on Jarome Bell and Andy Baan for the Republican nomination to contest incumbent Luria, who has twice defeated the Scott Taylor playbook, more than doubling her 2018 margin of victory in the following election cycle and defeating Taylor by over 5 points – or more than 20,000 votes.
“Kiggans indicated that she planned to go after Luria with the same playbook used by Luria’s 2020 challenger, former Congressman Scott Taylor,” reported The Washington Post in announcing Kiggans’ run, with the Taylor playbook consisting of trying to out-centrist the competition as opposed to embracing the America First platform championed by President Donald Trump and supported by the conservative base of the Republican Party.
As previously reported by National File, Kiggans – much like Taylor – has a voting record that raises eyebrows among members of the Republican base. Kiggans has found herself at odds even with some Democrats in supporting key pieces of Governor Ralph Northam’s radical left-wing agenda, amassing what some conservative, Republican voters call a questionable voting record during her short time in Richmond, though running for and winning office as a conservative.
Despite objections from the conservative base, it appears that the political establishment of the 2nd District is standing behind Kiggans, with Virginia Beach Republican Party leadership – long accused by conservative activists of being dominated by the establishment – openly supporting Kiggans’ run for office, and referring to the candidate as “our very own” despite her primary race competition, Bell and Baan, both being Virginia Beach-based as well.
“This is why the RPVB has the crappy reputation it has,” Bell said of the chapter’s open support of Kiggans. “RPVB leadership is totally establishment and elitist. They only ever prop up stooges backed by and controlled by corporate paymasters. They hate the common man.”
Calling Kiggans’ conservative bonafides into doubt, Bell then accused Kiggans and the RPVB of casting a far-left liberal as a conservative candidate. “This is clearly an establishment play to support a far-left liberal masquerading as a Republican,” said Bell.