All eyes are on Virginia this fall for midterm congressional elections.
Midterm elections happen halfway through a president’s term. It’s seen by experts as a temperature check on how voters feel and, in many cases, political parties see it as an opportunity to remake Congress’ makeup.
This year, several of Virginia’s districts are targeted as chances to lessen Republican congressional power and add more Democrats who would vote against President Donald Trump’s actions.
In Hampton Roads, District 2 is a rematch between U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans and former U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria. The pair ran against each other in 2022.
This year, WHRO and its statewide public media partners have collaborated to ask Virginia’s congressional candidates what they would do if elected.
The Virginia Elections Collaborative
Given the extraordinary nature of the 2026 election cycle, Virginia's five public media news stations — VPM, WAMU, WHRO, WMRA and WVTF — are partnering to ensure voters across the state get the full breadth of both the federal midterms, state and local elections.
From early voting through Election Day and the results, the Virginia Elections Collaborative will provide you with coverage on the candidates and issues so you can make informed decisions at the ballot box.
How we did it:
WHRO asked readers through its newsletter and on social media what questions they had for candidates running for office. Participants were asked to provide location information so their feedback could be matched with their locality.
WHRO looked for common themes in readers’ questions and, when possible, included specific questions as submitted. Our staff collaborated with staff at other Virginia public media stations – VPM in Richmond, WVTF in Roanoke, WMRA in Harrisonburg and WAMU in Washington D.C. – to come up with a uniform list for all congressional candidates.
Candidates’ contact information was taken from the Virginia Department of Elections candidate listings. If it was incorrect or not provided, WHRO used contact information from campaign websites, public information checks or social media.
If you are a candidate and did not receive a questionnaire link and would like one, please email news@whro.org.
WHRO’s statewide partners oversaw sharing and gathering responses for all congressional races except Districts 2 and 3, which include the majority of Hampton Roads.
WHRO lightly edited responses for spelling and grammar so readers could understand candidates, but didn't edit the content of what candidates wrote.
In cases where WHRO staff felt it was necessary for voters to have additional information to understand what candidates wrote, an Editor’s Note is included with links to third-party information about the topic.
If you don’t see a response from a candidate, it means they have not yet responded to our questionnaire.
We will post responses on a rolling basis until Friday, Oct. 30.
Note: If you're having trouble seeing the questionnaire below, try refreshing the page.