Elaine Luria
U.S. Representative for Virginia
Elaine Goodman Luria was born in August 1975 in Birmingham, Alabama. She graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a double major in physics and history. She attended the U.S. Naval Nuclear Power School while serving in the Navy and was stationed aboard the flagship USS Blue Ridge. She earned an M.S. in engineering management from Old Dominion University. She served as a Navy officer for 20 years, operating nuclear reactors as an engineer. She rose to the rank of commander.
She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia, assuming office in January 2019.
She is married to Robert Blondin. She has a daughter and two step-children. She is Jewish.
In the News…
Representative Elaine Luria of Virginia and other members of the House Armed Services Committee are not satisfied with President Biden’s proposed $813 billion defense budget.
Arguing that the budget proposal “doesn’t build the force we need,” Representative Luria questioned the military’s new focus on transitioning combat vehicles to fully electric by 2050.
Congresswoman Luria, a former career Navy officer, said President Trump’s administration had adopted a strategy of “deterrence by denial,” meaning administration officials laid out the consequences a country like China would face if it tried to invade Taiwan.
“Do we have a deterrent?” she asked during a discussion on “Building a Budget for an Increasingly Dangerous World” recently. “Do they think it’s actually possible because we’re there and there are risks, or are we counting on the fact that they think the punishment on the other side is going to be too great, like, we’re not going to do this because the consequences will be too great?“
“This national defense strategy really leans on this idea of integrated deterrence. … How does it work? Was it effective with regards to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine?”
She continued, “In my opinion,… this does not build the force that we need, either in the near term, especially in the near term, with regards to our current threats. … I’m very discouraged by what I’ve seen so far this year in the process of the [National Defense Authorization Act].”
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Representative Luria today? You can let her know at:
The Honorable Elaine Luria
Representative for Virginia
412 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
