Jennifer Ann Kiggans ( née Moore; born June 18, 1971) is an American politician and

nurse practitioner A nurse practitioner (NP) is an advanced practice registered nurse and a type of mid-level practitioner. NPs are trained to assess patient needs, order and interpret diagnostic and laboratory tests, diagnose disease, formulate and prescribe ...

serving as the U.S. representative for

Virginia's 2nd congressional district Virginia's second congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It currently encompasses all of Accomack, Northampton, and York Counties; all of the independent cities of Virginia Beach and Willia ...

. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, Kiggans is a former

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

helicopter pilot. She defeated incumbent

Elaine Luria Elaine Goodman Luria (; ; born August 15, 1975) is an American politician and US Navy veteran serving as the U.S. representative from since 2019. Luria's congressional district includes most of Hampton Roads, including all of Virginia Beach, ...

in the 2022 election.

Early life and career

Kiggans was born in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, and graduated from high school in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. As a high school student, she worked in

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...

. She is an alum of

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

(Pardee’93) along with fellow Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Pardee '11). In 1993 and 1994, she taught English in Japan through the

JET Programme The , or , is a Japanese government initiative that brings college (university) graduates—mostly native speakers of English—to Japan as Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) and Sports Education Advisors (SEAs) in Japanese kindergartens, element ...

. She also lived in Japan as a Navy spouse for five years. Kiggans was a

pilot for ten years, flying H-46 and H-3 helicopters. After serving in the military, Kiggans attended nursing school at

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (Old Dominion or ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and is now one of the largest universities in Virginia w ...

and Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She is an

adult geriatric nurse practitioner An adult-gerontology nurse practitioner (AGNP) is a nurse practitioner that specializes in continuing and comprehensive healthcare for adults across the lifespan from adolescence to old age. Education and board certification Following educationa ...

Eastern Virginia Medical School Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) is a public medical school in Norfolk, Virginia. Founded by grassroots efforts in the Southeastern part of Virginia known as Hampton Roads, EVMS is not affiliated with an undergraduate institution and co ...

and in private practice.

Early political career

In 2019, Kiggans ran for the

Virginia Senate The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...

for the 7th district, which was being vacated by Republican incumbent Frank Wagner. In the Republican Party primary, Kiggans defeated

Virginia Beach School Board Virginia Beach City Public Schools is the branch of the government of the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia responsible for public K-12 education. Like all public school systems in the state, it is legally classified as a school division instead o ...

member Carolyn Weems, 52% to 48%. In the general election, Kiggans faced Democratic state Delegate

Cheryl Turpin Cheryl Baldwin Turpin (born 1963) is an American politician who served as the delegate in the Virginia House of Delegates for the 85th district representing a part of Virginia Beach from 2018 to 2020. She is a member of the Democratic Party. E ...

. The race was viewed as competitive, as the district had very narrowly favored Democrats in recent statewide elections. Kiggans and Turpin each spent over $500,000 on television advertisements. Kiggans won, 50.4% to 49.5%.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2022

Kiggans was the Republican nominee for

in the 2022 election. She defeated Democratic incumbent

in the November 2022 general election. Kiggans supports banning abortions after fifteen weeks of pregnancy, except for in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother. In June 2022, she expressed support for the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in ''

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'', , is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the court held that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion. The court's decision overruled both ''R ...

'', which overruled ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...

''. Kiggans has consistently refused to state whether she believes that Joe Biden was legitimately elected president and has called for a $70 million re-audit of Virginia's 2020 presidential election results; a previous audit of those results found no evidence of fraud. She has said that she does not believe the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago was justified.

Caucus memberships

Republican Main Street Partnership The Republican Main Street Partnership is a 501(c)(4) organization that was allied with the congressional Republican Main Street Caucus. The Partnership continues to exist, while the Caucus was dissolved by its members in February 2019. Hist ...

Personal life

Kiggans is a lifelong

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. She is married to Steve Kiggans, a retired Navy

F-18 The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part ...

pilot. They have four children.

References

External links

Congresswoman Jen Kiggans
official U.S. House website
Campaign website
* *
Jen Kiggans
at the Virginia Public Access Project , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiggans, Jen 1971 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Advanced practice registered nurses American expatriates in Japan American women nurses Aviators from Florida Aviators from Virginia Catholics from Florida Catholics from Virginia Female members of the United States House of Representatives Living people Military personnel from Florida Military personnel from Virginia Nurses from Virginia People from Orlando, Florida Politicians from Tampa, Florida Politicians from Virginia Beach, Virginia Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia Republican Party Virginia state senators Women United States Naval Aviators Women state legislators in Virginia