Virginia Republican calls on Democrat congresswoman to sell chips stock after major vote

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A Republican candidate for Congress called on her incumbent Democrat opponent to sell her stock in a semiconductor company after her vote on a major bill boosting the industry.

Virginia Republican state Sen. Jen Kiggans put out a press release calling on Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., to dump her Nvidia stock after voting to pass the CHIPS Act through the House last month.

Kiggans called Luria’s yea vote on the subsidies bill "for an industry in which she owns up to $25 million in stocks" the "latest example of how she will put her bottom line ahead of her constituents’ well-being" as well as "unethical" and "self-serving."

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Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., has been criticized for her vote on the CHIPS Act while holding semiconductor company stock. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

"Instead of reforming Washington like she promised on the campaign trail, Elaine has spent her time in Washington playing political games, voting with Nancy Pelosi over 95% of the time, and flip-flopping on everything from accepting corporate PAC donations to raising the minimum wage," Kiggans said.

"If Elaine is serious about reforming Washington, she should lead by example and immediately sell her stocks in the Nvidia Corporation after her vote," she continued.

Kiggans also accused Luria of using "her powers to enrich herself by tens of millions of dollars since taking office" and that "while she has been busy raking in millions, Virginians have been battling an economic recession, 40-year high inflation, and crippling supply-chain and labor shortages."

Jen Kiggans won the GOP primary for Virginia's 2nd Congressional District. (Kristen Zeis/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

"As a 20-year Navy veteran, Rep. Luria is the strongest anti-China voice in Congress and has repeatedly called to end strategic ambiguity, invest in and grow the Navy to combat the threat from China, and defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion," Luria spokesman Jayce Genco told Fox News Digital.

"So much so that her Republican opponent plagiarized Rep. Luria’s own words on China in a fundraising email," Genco said. "To suggest that her vote on an anti-China bill is anything but for strengthening our national security is ridiculous."

Genco said Luria "purchased this stock, which doesn’t qualify for any subsidies in the CHIPS Act, almost 10 years ago for retirement purposes and long before she was elected to Congress."

Luria is a former member of the U.S. military and bought her stocks before becoming a member of Congress. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

"Any claim about the congresswoman buying this stock nearly a decade ago, before she was in Congress, to benefit herself through any piece of legislation is absurd," Genco added.

Luria has owned her shares in Nvidia for several years, having initially made the purchase a decade ago while serving in the U.S. military, and has not made any more purchases since taking office.

The CHIPS Act also targets specifically the manufacturers of semiconductor chips, not the designers. Nvidia designs semiconductor chips.

Paul Pelosi, the husband to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., recently sold off up to $5 million in semiconductor stocks ahead of the lower chamber’s vote on the CHIPS Act.

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The CHIPS Act was sent to President Biden for his signature last week after more than a year of congressional negotiations.

The bill passed, 243-187, despite a last-second effort to stop it by House Republicans. In the wake of a climate change, health care and tax hike deal Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced Wednesday, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., told members in an official notice late Wednesday that GOP leadership recommended a "no" vote on the bill.

Fox News Digital’s Tyler Olson and Rachel Paik contributed reporting.