The official ballot: what is districtwide and what varies
The official federal candidate list names four qualified candidates for Member, U.S. House, 2nd District: Democratic Elaine G. Luria; Republican Jen A. Kiggans (incumbent); Independent Geral D. “Bishop” Staten; and Independent J. Matt Baker. All Virginia voters also have the U.S. Senate contest—Democratic Mark R. Warner and Republican Bert Mizusawa—while proposed constitutional amendments, local offices and local referenda may add items. A district guide cannot be a single personalized “full ballot”: use the state’s current all-offices list and Citizen Portal for the contests and polling place attached to your address.
Key dates and ways to vote
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. Regular registration or an address update must be completed by Friday, October 23. Early in-person voting began September 18 and ends at 5 p.m. Saturday, October 31; every locality offers it, but locations are set locally. A request for a mail ballot must reach the local registrar by 5 p.m. October 23. Return a completed ballot to the registrar by 7 p.m. Election Day, or mail it postmarked no later than Election Day and received by noon on the third day after. After October 23, an eligible voter can register in person and vote provisionally through Election Day; the local electoral board determines whether that ballot counts.
District geography and address-specific information
VA-02 joins Eastern Shore communities and South Hampton Roads, with boundaries that can cross locality and precinct lines. Do not infer a congressional district, ballot or polling place from a ZIP code, a city name or a campaign map. Virginia Elections maintains the current district-and-precinct map from locality-supplied boundaries and allows an address search; its Citizen Portal separately provides registration status, election district, polling place, absentee status and voting history. The federal office is districtwide, Virginia administers registration and voting, and the local registrar provides the address-specific consequence: where, when and which local contests a voter can cast a ballot on.
Reading the Kiggans–Luria past-service records
The Kiggans–Luria comparison here is only a comparison of two past service records, not a two-person definition of the current four-candidate ballot. Congress’s Biographical Directory shows Kiggans serving in the 118th–119th Congresses from 2023 to the present and Luria in the 116th–117th Congresses from 2019 to 2023. Their House tenures did not overlap. A fair account labels a vote “not in Congress” where appropriate, checks the bill text, question, chamber, date and version, and does not turn a campaign statement into a roll-call vote. Federal law and appropriations are distinct; Virginia implements state-administered programs and elections; any local impact requires evidence beyond a congressional vote.
Corrections and evidence standards
Corrections should be specific and documented: send the claimed error, the precise wording, an official or primary-record URL, the relevant date or version, and an explanation of the correction. Candidate status will be checked against the Department’s candidate lists; voting logistics against Virginia Elections and the applicable registrar; congressional claims against Congress.gov and the House Clerk. Funding claims will identify whether an amount was requested, awarded, obligated or actually spent—terms that are not interchangeable—and name the jurisdiction and program. Corrections that are substantiated will be marked with what changed, why, and the source; unresolved or incomplete claims will be labeled rather than guessed.
What this file cannot establish
This is a guide to the VA-02 congressional contest, not a substitute for an address-specific sample ballot. The federal candidate list was updated September 14, 2026; the all-offices list was updated September 29, 2026. Local contests, referenda, polling places and early-voting sites vary by address and can change, so voters should confirm them with Virginia Elections and their local registrar. The Kiggans–Luria material covers only their past congressional service records; it is not an endorsement, a prediction, or a comparison of the two independent candidates’ records.
Documents to inspect
- Virginia Department of Elections — November 3, 2026 Federal Offices Candidate List — Official ballot-qualified VA-02 House candidates and party labels; page lists Elaine G. Luria, Jen A. Kiggans, Geral D. ‘Bishop’ Staten and J. Matt Baker.
- Virginia Department of Elections — November 3, 2026 All Offices Candidate List — Official all-offices list, updated September 29, showing why local contests make an address-specific ballot necessary.
- Virginia Department of Elections — Upcoming Elections — November 3 election date, October 23 regular registration and mail-ballot-request deadlines, and September 18–October 31 early-voting period.
- Virginia Department of Elections — Absentee and Early Voting — Mail-ballot return deadlines, ballot tracking, early-voting procedures and provisional-ID information.
- Virginia Department of Elections — Interactive Map — Official current district and precinct mapping, including address search and the caveat that locality-supplied boundaries can be updated.
- U.S. Congress Biographical Directory — Jennifer Kiggans and Elaine Luria — Kiggans’s service beginning in 2023; paired with the linked Second District record guide and Luria’s congressional biographical record to establish non-overlapping terms.
- Office of the Clerk, U.S. House — Roll Call Votes — Official searchable House vote records by roll-call number, bill, Congress, date and vote question for verifying service-record claims.
- Congress.gov — Official bill text, actions, public laws, member activity and appropriations-status tools used to distinguish a vote or authorization from later funding and implementation.