VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Among the most enduring scenes in “Rocky II” are the opponents training for the rematch. Apollo Creed pummels a heavy bag and skips rope. Rocky Balboa lifts a large log onto his shoulders and performs squats. Strength and endurance become critical factors as the two prepare to meet again in the boxing ring.

Two Navy veterans are channeling that rematch energy in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District race.

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, 55, a Republican, is running for reelection. She faces Democrat Elaine Luria, 51, who served in Congress for two terms, from 2019 to 2023. The two last faced off in 2022, when Luria lost the seat in a fiercely contested race.

Both candidates released ads this summer that highlight not only their physical prowess but their determination to serve voters as they angle to win in the heavily entrenched military area.

Battle of the ads

Both are promoting campaign videos that show them physically training for the election while highlighting their military and political experience. Kiggans, a former state senator, won with 52% of the vote to 48% for Luria in their last bout.

Luria, a retired Navy commander who worked as a nuclear-trained surface warfare officer, pedals a stationary bike and lifts weights under a blinding spotlight in one of her ads. She touts her years in the Navy and four years in Congress. A former member of the bipartisan House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Luria said she’s fought “the most corrupt administration in history.”

“I believe service doesn’t end when your tour is up,” Luria says in the ad as she’s shown wiping sweat from her brow. “Not if there’s fight left in you.”

An ad for Kiggans, a former Navy helicopter pilot and nurse practitioner, features her jogging through a tree-lined suburban neighborhood wearing a Navy T-shirt.

“The weirdest thing about Washington is how much people love to hear themselves talk,” Kiggans said in the voice-over. The sound of chatter is silenced when she puts her earbuds in and hits the pavement. She waves to a resident while talking about the work she wants to do, including lowering drug costs and taxes and her track record for bipartisanship.

“You have to tune out the noise to get things done,” she said.

Taking jabs on the campaign trail

Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District includes Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Isle of Wight, the Eastern Shore, and parts of Chesapeake and Southampton County.

Kiggans hit the campaign trail hard during the congressional summer recess. She appeared with Trump administration officials and Republican leadership, including Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and Chief of Naval Operations Daryl Caudle. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who was on a 30-day tour through 18 states, stumped for Kiggans in Virginia Beach on Aug 17.

Following a private donor campaign event held at the Cavalier Hotel, they held a brief news conference. The pair talked about the battle against communist and socialist ideology among some Democrats.

“This is not a new fight that we’re in, but it’s a fight right now between craziness and commonsense,” said Kiggans.

Johnson praised Kiggans’ potency in Washington.

“She’s among the most bipartisan members – one of the members that can walk into the middle of chaotic situations and get things done,” Johnson said. “That’s why she’s so highly effective.”

Kiggans took a couple of jabs at her opponent.

She pointed out that Luria doesn’t live in the 2nd District, which is not a requirement to run for the seat. She also claimed Luria profited from insider stock trading while serving in office. Kiggans took it a step further two days later, on Aug. 19, with a post on social media: “I’m running a campaign against someone who doesn’t even live in the district, made $21 Million Dollars trading stocks in Congress, and I already beat once before … it’s time to retire Elaine Luria once and for all and continue fighting for integrity and commonsense in Washington!”

Luria disputes that, saying Kiggans has no evidence to back those claims. Luria previously opposed a congressional stock trading ban, but now supports one.

When asked at a news conference on Friday why she switched gears on the stock issue, Luria said, “Members of Congress, by self-imposing that restriction, should set the example, and I think that it is something to show a sign to the American people that members of Congress are not profiting off their role in office.”

And she threw a counter punch at her opponent, who is endorsed by the president.

“Jen Kiggans has not said one word about Donald Trump, the corruption, the money that his family and political allies are making off of his administration,” Luria said at her campaign headquarters in Virginia Beach.

Flanked by military veterans at the six-month mark of the start of the U.S. war against Iran, Luria criticized what she described as Kiggans’s lack of sympathy for sailors’ long deployments and strains on the Navy’s carrier force.

“We need to have a trusted voice, who in her previous time in Congress worked not only with the Democrat party, but worked with members of the Republican party to advance the strengthening of our military and advance veterans’ benefits,” said Navy veteran Marcus Friedman of Virginia Beach.

Luria also has been revving up her campaign, meeting with union and community members, and appearing alongside state and national figures, including Del. Cliff Hayes and U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott.

In a July 7 post on social media, she doubled down on her warrior spirit.

“Hampton Roads needs a fighter who is ready to take on Jen Kiggans and the most corrupt administration in history, which is raising prices on working families,” Luria wrote.

Early voting begins Sept. 18; Election Day is Nov. 3.

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