As she launches a bid to reclaim her House seat, former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) said that she wants to help lead the effort to push back against anti-Israel voices in the Democratic Party.

During her time in the House, from 2019-2023, Luria brought pro-Israel colleagues together to stand in support of the Jewish state in the face of others who were critical of it. She told Jewish Insider in an interview last week that those critics are loud and are “drowning out the fact that the support for Israel remains strong.”

“Having more people like me who are willing to speak up on that issue, in support of maintaining security assistance through the memorandum of understanding and continuing to maintain a strong relationship with Israel is important,” Luria said, adding that she wants to be a “leader” among new members and former colleagues “to show that the support [for Israel] remains strong.”

Luria said she continues to view Israel as the U.S.’ “strongest ally” in the Middle East and “key to our national security,” and that she continues to oppose any effort to condition U.S. aid to the Jewish state.

Luria said that Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 was “unconscionable” and that Israel “has a right to defend themselves and respond to that kind of security threat.” She said she was glad to see the ceasefire deal and the release of hostages, but said that the path forward remains difficult, and will require the involvement of the U.S. and the world community, with the removal of Hamas from Gaza as the key first step.

The former congresswoman, a prominent Democratic Iran hawk during her time in office who was skeptical of efforts to reenter the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, said that the Trump administration’s military action against Iran last summer, done in conjunction with Israel, appears to have “slowed … and delayed” Iran’s capacity to develop a nuclear weapon.

But she argued that the administration, in claiming that the nuclear program had been effectively ended, had “overblown” the effect of the strikes. She also criticized the administration for its extensive use of U.S. military power, in Iran and elsewhere, without consultation with or approval by Congress.

“I’ve said over and over again that anything that needs to be done to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon needs to be done,” she added. “I think that the president made that decision to act in that moment because it was an imperative to stop them from having it. I just think it’s disingenuous to the American people to do a victory lap and say we were successful. Because the fact is, the threat is still there. They’re going to build it back, and we’re going to continue to be faced with this issue.”

Asked about the prospect of renewed strikes on the Islamic Republic in support of Iranian protesters, Luria said that such action could be contingent on who or what the targets are, who would come to power in the aftermath and whether the end state would actually improve the situation for Iranians.

“I think there’s so many unanswered questions, and it’s hard to say what way to go forward with the little amount of information that we’re able to receive” given the Iranian internet blackout, she explained. “I think that international diplomatic pressure, including very strongly from the U.S., to end the violence by the government against protesters is important.”

Luria said that she’s been concerned by the rise in violent rhetoric and actual violence against both the Jewish community and other communities  — which she connected in part to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. 

Luria was a member of the House select committee that investigated the attack. She noted that one of the rioters, pardoned by President Donald Trump, wore a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt to the riot.

“The kind of activity that is both violent rhetorically and in action has somehow become acceptable in our political discourse,” Luria said. “You have the president, who is trying to act like Jan. 6 didn’t happen. He’s trying to whitewash it. … When vitriol and hate and division is sown from the top, it filters down, and then whatever lens people see that through — if someone’s lens is that they want to take that out in a way that’s antisemitic and towards the Jewish community, they’ve been emboldened to do that.”

She said it’s critical to speak up against antisemitism, and for truth, and to prevent people from trying to rewrite history, vowing to continue to “stand up and speak out directly against antisemitism.”

Asked about antisemitism on the left, and efforts to rewrite the history of Israel, the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks and the Jewish people, Luria affirmed that she sees similar trends on the far left, and that she believes extremist anti-Israel rhetoric by leaders can normalize antisemitic violence.

“Everyone in leadership, everyone in government, everyone in the faith community, needs to stand up and say that this is unacceptable,” Luria said. “And I think that I have done that at every occasion that it was necessary and every opportunity that I had while serving in that kind of role, both in Congress and — smaller scale — when serving in the military.”

After leaving office, Luria spent a semester as a fellow at the Georgetown University Institute of Public Policy focusing on bipartisanship, and worked in the maritime defense industry. She also grappled with multiple deaths in her family, including her son-in-law, who was 28, and her father.

Luria said she decided to make a new bid for Congress because of the “the polarization, the fact that Congress is not doing their job, the Republicans in the House, in my mind, have no backbone, no ability to show any independent thought.” She said that Democrats retaking the House will be the best way to check the Trump administration’s power.

She acknowledged that the race, in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, centered in the Tidewater area, may be difficult, but emphasized she has won tough races in the district before.

“I think people are looking for change and looking for Congress to do more for them, and so, I’ve thrown my hat back in,” Luria said. “Listening to people on the ground, everybody is really focused on, you know, that high cost of living, access to health care, the cost of health care.”

One other major Democratic candidate remains in the primary against Luria, but she is strongly favored as the frontrunner.

The seat is currently held by Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA), who unseated Luria in 2022.

Luria sees the results of the November 2025 statewide elections, in which Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger and scandal-tarnished Attorney General Jay Jones, also a Democrat, both won the district, as a sign that “the political tide has turned.”

Luria said that affordability will be a major priority for her, including healthcare prices, and that she’ll maintain the focus she had in office on the military and the Navy — the district being home to the Norfolk naval station, the Navy’s headquarters. Overall, she said, she wants to tamp down on the “chaos” coming out of the Trump administration.

“I think Congress has a role in this, and they have not stood up and done their role,” she said, referring to Trump’s tariff policies, threats against Greenland, antagonism toward NATO and military action against Venezuela and alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean.