| With just over a month until Election Day, Congresswoman Jen Kiggans is facing fresh questions about campaign contributions she has received from predatory payday lenders and her votes to gut an oversight agency that helps protect veterans and servicemembers from scammers.
WAVY previously reported that Kiggans voted against cracking down on predatory loan practices after taking nearly $20,000 in campaign cash from the industry. Kiggans even ran away from a WAVY interview when pressed on her campaign contributions and harmful vote.
Now, the Virginia Mercury reports that “Kiggans is facing renewed scrutiny” because she has taken “$49,500 in contributions” from companies in the lending industry, and then voted to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) – the federal watchdog agency that helps protect Virginians, including veterans and servicemembers, from predatory companies looking to take advantage of them financially.
DCCC Spokesperson Eli Cousin:
“Virginia veterans and servicemembers deserve answers from Jen Kiggans about why she has cashed checks from predatory lenders and then did their bidding in Washington. It’s just the latest example of Kiggans putting Trump and her donors first, and Virginians last.”
- U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans is facing renewed scrutiny over her votes to roll back consumer financial oversight after receiving tens of thousands of dollars from political committees tied to the financial services industry, including a Republican group that has received substantial funding from payday and title lenders.
- The Virginia Beach Republican supported repealing federal rules governing major payment apps and bank overdraft fees in 2025, five years after opposing Virginia’s overhaul of payday and car title lending.
- The record is drawing attention as Kiggans seeks reelection in a district with Virginia’s largest veteran population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, and a substantial active-duty military community.
- “Jen Kiggans is a pay-to-play politician who cashes checks from predatory corporations that target veterans and service members, and then does their bidding in Washington. That’s corruption in plain sight,” a spokesman for her Democratic challenger, former U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria, said Wednesday.
- Kiggans campaign spokesman Calvin Moore did not answer a list of questions from The Mercury about the congresswoman’s votes and contribution […]
- Alex Keena, an associate professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University, said an incumbent’s voting record can become a liability when opponents are able to connect it to voters’ everyday concerns.
- “This is a bad look, and it will be very easy to show that her voting record has directly affected the economic interests of voters in the district,” he said.
- On April 9, 2025, Kiggans voted to overturn a CFPB rule that subjected the largest nonbank digital payment companies to routine federal examinations. The resolution passed 219-211, with every voting House Republican supporting it and every voting Democrat opposing it.
- The rule applied to companies processing at least 50 million transactions annually, including major payment wallets and money-transfer apps. Repealing it removed that basis for routine CFPB supervision but did not exempt the companies from federal consumer protection laws.
- State campaign filings show Kiggans received $17,500 from GOPAC in 2019, when Kiggans ran for the Virginia Senate in the 7th District. Federal filings list another $10,000 from the GOPAC Election Fund for her congressional campaign in 2021 and 2022.
- GOPAC is a Republican political organization, not a lending company. But a 2018 Louisville Courier Journal review of the organization’s finances found substantial contributions from payday and title lending businesses.
- Kiggans also received a combined $22,000 from PACs associated with Ally Financial, American Express, Capital One, Regions Financial and Experian.
- Combined, the two categories account for $49,500 in contributions. Some of the money arrived long before Kiggans’ federal votes, and some afterward, including a November 2025 contribution to her leadership PAC.
- […] questions about Kiggans’ relationship with the lending industry date to her time in the Virginia Senate.
- During her 2022 congressional campaign, WAVY questioned her about her opposition to the Virginia Fairness in Lending Act and contributions she had received from GOPAC. Kiggans repeatedly declined to explain her vote before ending the interview.
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