Retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Mike Williamson on Tuesday announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in a bid to unseat a retired Navy helicopter pilot, Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District.
Williamson targeted the two-term Kiggans in his announcement video over her support of the One Big, Beautiful Bill, which enshrined many of the Make America Great Again movement’s priorities into law, including massive increases in border and defense spending, as well as tax relief for working-class Americans through the “no tax on tips” provision.
“Jen Kiggans lied to us,” Williamson says in the political advertisement published Tuesday. “She voted to cut billions from veterans’ care and blow up our deficit to give handouts to her rich donors.”
Democrats have made a point of targeting Republicans based on cuts to Medicaid that were in the budget reconciliation bill. The entitlement program has been growing at 4.5% per year, far outpacing the growth of the U.S. economy, something that prompted the effort at reform by congressional Republicans.
“In his delusional campaign announcement, out-of-touch Democrat Mike Williamson made up lies out of thin air about Rep. Jen Kiggans, and then tried to deceive voters about his own party affiliation,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole said in a statement, adding sarcastically:
Way to go, Mike! Your campaign is off to a great start of earning Virginians’ trust.
Three others—James Osyf, Nicolaus Sleister, and John Stringfellow—have also announced their candidacies to become the Democrat challenger to Kiggans.
The Virginia district, which covers the counties of Northampton, Accomack, and Isle of Wight as well as the cities of Virginia Beach, Franklin, and Suffolk, is likely to be a highly competitive race. In 2024, the region split the ticket with a plurality of its voting residents supporting Donald Trump for president and a majority simultaneously voting to reelect Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.
Kiggans is widely seen as a moderate Republican representing a swing district in the House of Representatives. She has a 58% lifetime score as rated by Heritage Action for America, an independent partner organization affiliated with The Heritage Foundation.
The congresswoman first won election to Congress in the 2022 midterms, unseating Democrat Rep. Elaine Luria. Before her successful bid for Congress, Kiggans was a member of the Virginia state Senate, serving from January 2020 to November 2022.
She previously served as a U.S. Navy pilot operating H-46 and H-3 helicopters with two deployments to the Persian Gulf. After her time in the military, she became a board-certified adult-geriatric primary care nurse practitioner through education via the GI bill. She is a graduate of Old Dominion University’s nursing school and Vanderbilt University’s nurse practitioner program. Kiggans’ husband also served in the Navy and is a retired F-18 pilot.