From the Democratic Party of Virginia:
Jen Kiggans Can’t Hide Her Far-Right Record As She Launches Her Campaign For Congress
Richmond, VA — State Senator Jen Kiggans launched her campaign for Congress today with an ad that mentions “cancel culture” more than COVID-19. While Kiggans claims in her ad to being a problem solver, her record tells a different story. She has spent the past two years in the Virginia Senate taking hyper-partisan votes out of step with the majority of Virginians and backing extremists in her own party.
While campaigning in 2019, Kiggans heaped praise on Donald Trump. “I’m a big supporter of President Trump,” she said, “I think he’s a genius.” This was right after Trump decided to divert nearly $80 million in crucial funding for military projects in Virginia to pay for his failed border wall.
Earlier this year, when Kiggans had the chance to censure Senator Amanda Chase for undermining the 2020 election and calling those who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6 “patriots,” she refused to even cast a vote. While a bipartisan majority of senators came together to condemn Chase’s extremism, Kiggans wasn’t one of them.
Kiggans also voted against a historic budget bill this year, opposing:
- Pay raises for Virginia teachers and police officers
- Funding for crucial COVID-19 vaccination efforts
- $443 million to protect K-12 schools against losses caused by the pandemic, including additional funding for more support staff
- $100 million in expanding broadband infrastructure
And as Virginia led the way in expanding voting rights following Republican attacks on elections, Kiggans has decided to side with the conspiracy theorists and extremists in her party, voting against common sense bills to make it easier for Virginians to vote. This year Kiggans opposed the Virginia Voting Rights Act, a bill to allow early voting on Sundays, and a bill to make absentee voting more accessible. As the Big Lie has come to dominate her party, Virginians can’t afford to have her follow in Scott Taylor’s footsteps and try to sow distrust in our elections.
“Jen Kiggans hasn’t even finished her first term in the Senate and she’s already asking for a promotion. But after voting against pay raises for teachers, siding with radical conspiracy theorists in her party, and praising Donald Trump, her far-right record is a nonstarter for Virginians. If she’s willing to protect Amanda Chase, there’s no doubt she’d have Marjorie Taylor Greene’s back in Congress,” said Democratic Party of Virginia Communications Director Grant Fox.
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