VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Rep. Elaine Luria declared victory in the race for Virginia's second congressional district on Wednesday afternoon.
The former U.S. Navy commander defeated Republican Scott Taylor in Tuesday’s election. Taylor is a former Navy SEAL who represented the district for one term before Luria defeated him in 2018.
The race was competitive: The district was drawn by Republicans and supported President Donald Trump in 2016.
"It's truly my honor and my privilege to stand here again as your representative for my second term," she said during a press conference Wednesday.
On Tuesday night, Luria trailed for a large part of the night until about 125,000 early and mail-in votes in Virginia Beach were reported. Luria had more than a 30,000 vote advantage over Taylor in Virginia Beach early voting.
"I just knew those votes were very important and they were a very sizable part of the vote," she said.
Luria is considered a moderate Democrat who worked across the aisle to author bipartisan legislation. Her national security experience also played a pivotal role when she advocated for Trump’s impeachment.
Heading back to Washington, she stressed more COVID-19 relief if a top priority. "We have to work on getting another COVID relief package and dealing with all of the challenges that COVID has presented," she said.
With the presidential race still up in the air, Luria stressed patience. "I think it could be days or even long because of their processes with absentee ballots and that differs in different states around the country," she said. "I think the important part is we have patience until all the votes are counted."
On Wednesday afternoon Taylor posted to Twitter saying in part, "Congratulations to Congresswoman Luria. Let us all hope that she is successful in her next two years as our representative in Washington."
— Scott Taylor TEXT “Taylor” to 41411 (@Scotttaylorva) November 4, 2020