A LIFE OF SERVICE
Meet Elaine
At 17 years old, Elaine joined the Navy and spent the next 20 years serving on combatant ships around the world as a nuclear-trained Surface Warfare Officer. She deployed six times, leading sailors and conducting operations in the Middle East and Western Pacific on destroyers, cruisers, and aircraft carriers.
Elaine retired from the Navy at the rank of Commander in 2017 after commanding a combat-ready unit of 400 sailors to provide assault craft to support the U.S. Marine Corps. She immediately began giving back to the community her family calls home, starting a small business from a block of clay on her kitchen table. Elaine grew the Mermaid Factory into a thriving family business in Hampton Roads that created jobs, supported charity, stimulated the local economy, and brought joy to others.
Inspired by the same sense and calling to serve when she was 17, Elaine used her experience in the military and as a small business owner to run for Congress in 2018 and continue serving the public.
Elaine served as the representative for Virginia’s Second Congressional District from 2018 to 2023 where she put the needs of Hampton Roads first and developed a reputation of working across the aisle to deliver for the district.
In Congress, she fought to pass the PACT Act–the largest expansion of veterans’ health care in our lifetime, cut health care and prescription drug costs, secured direct investments in our communities, and passed legislation to provide three cost-of-living increases for our veterans. As a Navy veteran and representing a district with deep military ties, Elaine secured historic investments in shipbuilding and ensured our men and women in uniform had the tools and resources needed to protect our freedoms abroad and themselves.
Elaine has a proven record of being a strong advocate for Hampton Roads and delivering on the issues that matter most to our communities. She knows that service to our country means putting the interests of the people above all else. That’s why she cannot sit back and watch from the sidelines as our leaders in Washington continue to put themselves first and support policies that are raising costs on families from the grocery store to the pharmacy counter.
Coastal Virginia deserves better. Elaine knows we can’t expect families to get ahead when they can barely afford to get by. When she gets to Congress, Elaine will always put Hampton Roads first and work to lower prices, make health care more affordable, create opportunities, and improve the lives of our veterans and military families.
