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Candidate record

Jen A. Kiggans

Current U.S. representative for Virginia's 2nd Congressional District, in the 118th and 119th Congresses, since January 3, 2023. Campaign affiliation: Republican.

Voter guide

Background, stated goals, record, and money

Background comes from official records, and from the campaign's own biography where the bullet says so; goals are summarized from the campaign's own platform and stay attributed; the record lines are official actions with the government source attached; money is shown as filed, with the filing window and the reconciliation in the note under the table, and is not evidence of why any position was taken.

Jen A. Kiggans

Background

  • The sitting member for Virginia's 2nd district, in the 118th and 119th Congresses since January 3, 2023. She sits on the Armed Services, Veterans' Affairs and Natural Resources Committees and chairs the Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. She has sponsored 78 bills and resolutions plus five floor amendments and cosponsored 700 measures, and one of the bills she sponsored has become law. Office of Representative Jen Kiggans, Congress.gov, Congress.gov
  • Her office's biography records ten years as a Navy helicopter pilot, flying H-46 and H-3 aircraft, with two deployments to the Persian Gulf. Office of Representative Jen Kiggans
  • The same page records that after active duty she used her GI Bill benefits to qualify as a nurse practitioner and practised in Virginia Beach and Norfolk. Office of Representative Jen Kiggans

What they say they want to do

  • Renew and reform the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, an effort her campaign says she led. Kiggans for Congress
  • Hold federal taxes down; her campaign points to the Working Families Tax Cuts, which it says made the 2017 tax cuts permanent and ended most taxes on tips and overtime. Kiggans for Congress
  • Keep the Department of Veterans Affairs fully funded. Kiggans for Congress
  • Keep border security funding and interior enforcement in place. Kiggans for Congress
  • Leave Medicare and Social Security untouched for those receiving or near receiving benefits. Kiggans for Congress

What the official record shows

Campaign money from other committees, by type

Corporation-connected PACs 108 committees$357,500
Leadership PACs 79 committees$333,000
Other PACs (no organization type recorded) 43 committees$155,624
Other candidates' committees 59 committees$142,977
Trade association PACs 40 committees$126,500
Membership organization PACs 18 committees$71,750
Labor organization PACs 4 committees$26,000
Corporations without capital stock 4 committees$16,500
Joint fundraising committees 1 committee$10,000
Party committees 1 committee$5,500
Committees listed without an FEC id in the filing$5,250
Cooperative PACs 1 committee$5,000

Source: Federal Election Commission

Itemized receipts from political committees in this committee's 2025-2026 cycle filings, grouped by the FEC's recorded organization type or designation of the contributing committee, and read at the commission on September 13, 2026. The twelve rows sum to $1,255,600.68, which is the FEC summary's other-committee contributions of $1,250,100.68 plus its party-committee contributions of $5,500.00. Every figure here is a sum of the filings' own itemized rows, not the matching line on the FEC's summary of the cycle, and the two can differ by whatever the filings did not itemize. Not in the table: contributions from individuals, transfers from joint fundraising committees, and the memo entries, which restate money the report already counts elsewhere and would be counted twice if they were added. This committee is also the one whose filing column and the commission's computed cycle totals diverge, which the note on its Pre-Primary report sets out; the rows here are a grouping of the filings' own itemized entries and reconcile to the commission's summary of contributions from other committees.

Words and record

Where statements meet the record

Each card is labeled narrowly, by rule, and states its own limit.

Jen A. Kiggans

Veterans: the first standalone bill to pass the House

Matches stated record claim

What they say

Her campaign says her first standalone bill to pass the House was the COPE Act.

“Her first standalone bill to pass the House – the Caregiver Outreach and Program Enhancement (COPE) Act – would provide increased mental health resources to veterans’ caregivers and improve safety at VA medical facilities, ensuring that America’s veterans are properly cared for and feel safe when they access the benefits they earned.”

Source: Kiggans for Congress

What the record shows ·

H.R. 3581, the COPE Act, which she sponsored on May 22, 2023 with no cosponsors at introduction and five who joined later, three Democrats and two Republicans, passed the House on December 4, 2023 on a motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended, agreed to by voice vote. No bill she sponsored had any House-passage action before that date; the next two came the following September, H.R. 8108 on the 23rd and H.R. 5490 on the 24th. The COPE Act was received in the Senate the following day and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, where it had no further action. It is not law.

Sources: Congress.gov, Congress.gov, Congress.gov, Congress.gov

Limit: The claim is about House passage and House passage is what the record shows, first among her own bills. The bill is not law. Whether it would do what the sentence says it would is a question about the bill's text, which this card does not assess. The check reads the action history of all 78 bills and resolutions she has sponsored in the 118th and 119th Congresses.

Jen A. Kiggans

Immigration: the Laken Riley Act cosponsorship

Record does not bear out the claim

What they say

Her campaign says she voted for and cosponsored the Laken Riley Act, which was signed into law.

“She has also proudly voted in favor of bipartisan legislation and cosponsored the Laken Riley Act, which aims to strengthen interior enforcement and was signed into law.”

Source: Kiggans for Congress

What the record shows ·

She is not on the cosponsor roster of either bill of that name: H.R. 7511 of the 118th Congress, which has 78 cosponsors, or H.R. 29 of the 119th, which has 54, and no measure among her 700 cosponsorships carries the title. She did vote for it twice: Yea on H.R. 29 on January 7, 2025 (Roll Call 6, passed 264 to 159) and Yea on the Senate's S. 5 on January 22, 2025 (Roll Call 23, passed 263 to 156). S. 5, not the House bill, became Public Law 119-1 on January 29, 2025. That is what settles the cosponsorship: a member of the House cannot cosponsor a Senate bill, so the Act that was signed into law is one she had no way to cosponsor, and a cosponsorship could only have been of one of the two House companions, neither of which carries her name. No cosponsorship was withdrawn either: on all three bills the roster count and the count including withdrawn cosponsors are the same number, so she was not on a roster and later taken off one.

Sources: Congress.gov, Congress.gov, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, Congress.gov, Congress.gov

Limit: Two of the three things the sentence says hold: she voted for the act, twice, and it was signed into law. The cosponsorship does not: she is on neither bill's roster. The check read both full rosters and the official titles of all 700 measures she has cosponsored, and no withdrawn cosponsorship is hiding behind either roster: Congress.gov reports the count including withdrawn cosponsors as equal to the count on both bills, 78 of 78 and 54 of 54. Voting for a bill is not cosponsoring it.

Jen A. Kiggans

The coast: the Oyster Reef Recovery Act

Record does not bear out the claim

What they say

Her campaign's item of October 16, 2024, published under its own headline "Kiggans sponsors Oyster Reef Recovery Act", says she introduced the bill and that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cosponsored it, and quotes her on leading the effort.

“Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (VA-02) has introduced H.R. 9705 in the US House of Representatives, the Oyster Reef Recovery Act”

Source: Kiggans for Congress

In their own words, dated

“Reps. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have introduced legislation to create a competitive grant program to support restoring and protecting oyster reefs.”

What the record shows ·

She is on the bill from the day it was introduced, in both Congresses that have carried it. H.R. 9705, introduced on September 19, 2024, is sponsored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and its cosponsor roster holds one name, Kiggans, an original cosponsor on the day of introduction. It was reintroduced in the next Congress as H.R. 360 on January 13, 2025, again sponsored by Ocasio-Cortez, with Kiggans again an original cosponsor, one of three. Both were referred to the Committee on Natural Resources and went no further, and she has sponsored no oyster or reef bill of her own in either Congress.

Sources: Congress.gov, Congress.gov, Congress.gov

Limit: Her campaign said this accurately on October 15 and inaccurately on October 16, and the desk shows both. The earlier item says the two members introduced the bill together, which is what the record shows. The later one reverses the roles, and it is the campaign's own claim rather than an outlet's: the page carries the campaign's headline, "Kiggans sponsors Oyster Reef Recovery Act", and the word backs appears nowhere on it except inside the address of the outlet the body is reposted from. On the record Ocasio-Cortez is the sponsor of both bills, Kiggans an original cosponsor of both, and she has never sponsored an oyster or reef bill. An original cosponsor on the day of introduction is a real and substantial part in a bill, which is why the earlier framing holds and only the later one does not. Neither bill passed. The check read the sponsor and cosponsor entries of all 78 bills and resolutions she has sponsored and all 700 she has cosponsored in the 118th and 119th Congresses.

Jen A. Kiggans

Military families: troop pay during a shutdown

Matches stated record claim

What they say

Her campaign says she introduced and championed legislation to make sure U.S. troops are paid if the government shuts down.

“introduced and championed legislation to ensure U.S. troops are paid in the event of a government shutdown”

Source: Kiggans for Congress

What the record shows ·

She has introduced a Pay Our Troops Act four times: H.R. 5641 on September 21, 2023, H.R. 9699 on September 19, 2024, H.R. 1932 on March 6, 2025, and H.R. 5401 on September 16, 2025. All four were referred to the Committee on Appropriations; the first also drew her own introductory remarks a week later, on September 28, 2023. None was reported out of committee, voted on, or enacted.

Sources: Congress.gov, Congress.gov, Congress.gov, Congress.gov

Limit: The claim is to have introduced and championed the legislation, and that is what the record shows, four times over. It is not a claim of passage and none of the four passed. Whether troops were in fact paid during any shutdown depends on other measures this card does not read.

Jen A. Kiggans

Health care: the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits

Matches stated record claim

What they say

Her campaign says she led the bipartisan effort to renew and reform the Affordable Care Act tax credits and co-led a bipartisan group announcing a framework to extend premium tax credit relief.

“Jen led the bipartisan effort to renew and reform the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits. And co-lead a bipartisan group announcing CommonGround 2025, a framework to extend premium tax credit relief for American families — a direct affordability action for working families’ healthcare costs.”

Source: Kiggans for Congress

What the record shows ·

She sponsored two bills on the subject in the 119th Congress: H.R. 5145, the Bipartisan Premium Tax Credit Extension Act, on September 4, 2025, with 30 cosponsors, 16 Democrats and 14 Republicans, whose section 2 extends the enhanced credit by one year by striking "before January 1, 2026" and inserting "before January 1, 2027"; and H.R. 6575, the CommonGround for Affordable Health Care Act, on December 10, 2025, with 38 cosponsors, 23 Democrats and 15 Republicans. Both were referred to committee and neither has been reported. On December 17, 2025 the House took two recorded votes on H.R. 6703, a health bill she did not sponsor, whose sponsor is Rep. Miller-Meeks: she voted Nay on the motion to recommit, which Rep. Underwood offered to extend the enhanced premium tax credits for three years and which failed 210 to 218 (Roll Call 348), and Yea on passage, which carried 216 to 211 (Roll Call 349). The engrossed text of H.R. 6703 carries no occurrence of "premium tax credit" and none of "36B".

Sources: Congress.gov, Congress.gov, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Government Publishing Office, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Congress via Congress.gov, Congress.gov

Limit: She sponsored both bills and the cosponsors of each cross party lines, so "led" and "bipartisan" hold as descriptions of these two measures. Neither has moved out of committee and neither is law. Her opponent's platform says she voted against extending the same credits, and both sentences are true of different things: the credits she sponsored a bill to extend by one year are the credits the motion to recommit would have extended by three, and on December 17, 2025 she voted against that motion and for the bill that passed instead, whose text does not mention the credits at all. Which of those facts weighs more is a judgement this card does not make, and the card reads these votes and her two bills, not the rest of her record on health care.

Issues in this record

Follow the evidence by issue.

Costs and the economyHealth careVeterans and the militaryGovernment accountability and money in politicsImmigration and the borderThe coast, flooding and the Chesapeake BayReproductive rightsMedicare, Social Security and retirement

Evidence timeline

Dated records, with sources attached.

  1. race event

    Official candidate list revised

    The Virginia Department of Elections revised its candidate lists for the November 3, 2026 general election, the federal-offices list on September 8 and the fuller all-offices list on September 10, each dated by the name of its own downloadable file. Read on September 13, both show the same four candidates for the 2nd District: Luria, Kiggans, Staten and Baker. The state has since replaced both files; the source note records what could and could not be read back.

    Virginia Department of Elections Virginia Department of Elections

  2. finance

    FEC filing snapshot

    Pre-Primary 2026, principal campaign committee KIGGANS FOR CONGRESS.

    Federal Election Commission

  3. race event

    The seat changed hands

    Luria's second term ended and Kiggans's first began on January 3, 2023. Congress.gov records Luria for the 116th and 117th Congresses and Kiggans for the 118th and 119th, so every vote and sponsorship on this page belongs to one of them and to one side of that date.

    Congress.gov Congress.gov

  4. race event

    Kiggans's committee has been registered since 2021

    Kiggans for Congress filed its first statement of organization on April 8, 2021 and is the same principal campaign committee across the 2022, 2024 and 2026 cycles, so unlike the other three committees on this page it did not register for this election. A second committee of hers is designated as authorized rather than principal and last filed in June 2023.

    Federal Election Commission

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