VA-02: Vulnerable Democrat gets little heat over impeachment at town hall

The town hall was carefully planned to keep Luria on message. She told the gaggle of reporters who traveled to the event, four hours outside of Washington, D.C., that she planned to spend a third of her time dealing with impeachment questions. Then she would move on to spend the same amount of time discussing health care and gun control.

She noted that Ryan Keith Cox, the son of New Hope Pastor E. Ray Cox, was one of 12 people murdered in May by a mass shooter at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center.

Dressed in a crisp red suit, with her official House member’s pin hanging from a chain around her neck, Luria stood politely through a standing ovation at the first question — which was really a commendation for her “brave, patriotic decision” on the impeachment inquiry.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm,” she said. “But I truly feel that this is a sad time for our country. I did not go to Washington to impeach the president. I went there to do things for our community.”

She also referred to the military experience that has helped endear her to voters in a district where the Navy anchors the economy.

“I did not spend 20 years in uniform defending our country to watch something like this happen,” the Navy veteran and graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy said.

Attendees submitted questions in advance, insulating Luria from any direct confrontations. There were still flares of tension. At one point, a church member who volunteered to provide security to the event came to the microphone to admonish someone in the crowd.

“You’re not going to come here and disrespect the congresswoman or my church,” he said. “If you have a problem with that, leave now.”

But for the most part, the roughly 200 people in the crowd listened as Luria made her case. The moderator, a pastor from the church, said he had time for every question on the issue, which was not the case when Luria turned later to health care. When she mentioned the number of people in the community who had enrolled in Medicaid after a recent expansion, she received a round of applause.



https://www.rollcall.com/news/campaigns/virginia-town-hall