Kiggans pushes false $21 million claim about Elaine Luria

Republicans are attempting to smear Democrat Elaine Luria with false claims about her personal finances.

Luria is challenging incumbent Rep. Jen Kiggans in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. Luria previously held the seat from 2019 to 2023. It is widely regarded as one of the most competitive House races of 2026.

Last month, Kiggans made a series of social media posts alleging that Luria “made over $21 million through insider stock trading while serving in Congress.” She also claimed that Luria opposes banning members of Congress from trading stocks.

Neither of these claims are accurate.

Every congressperson is required to publicly report stock transactions. Luria reported only two transactions throughout her four years in office: one stock sale and one purchase. Her husband also reported two transactions during this period.

Luria reported her net worth when joining Congress as between $3.7 million and $13.6 million. It was between $3.4 million and $12.9 million when she left. This represents a potential loss in value of $720,000.

It is not clear where Kiggans is getting the erroneous $21 million figure from, nor could she defend the insider trading claim when The New York Times questioned her about it.

Last month, Fox News was forced to issue a correction when it incorrectly reported that Luria’s net worth “skyrocketed” while in office.

While it’s true that Luria previously expressed skepticism about a ban on congressional stock trading, she has since evolved on the issue.

“No one should profit off of holding office—especially members of Congress who write our nation’s laws, regulate industry, and receive classified briefings that members of the public cannot access,” her campaign website says. “I support banning members of Congress and their families from trading individual stocks while holding office.”

Luria has also called for cracking down on prediction markets and self-enrichment by President Donald Trump and his family.

A Tulchin Research poll from July showed Kiggans and Luria in a tied race.