State of the Union: Where Was Rep. Elaine Luria?

If you live in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District chances are you were playing “Where’s Waldo” last week during President Trump’s State of the Union address - scanning the room, as I was - searching for Rep. Elaine Luria.

She was easy to spot in 2019. Luria was in a sea of white, like a sad sorority girl on pref night, with all the other female Democrats. She sat three rows behind their leader, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Unhappy members of the Democratic Ladies Auxiliary at the 2019 SOTU. Rep. Elaine Luria, back row, 3rd on the right.

Last week she was AWOL from the white-clad Left-Wing Ladies’ Auxiliary.

I wondered if she was one of the congressional “designated survivors.”

I phoned Luria’s Washington office yesterday to find out. Seems the congresswoman sat with another group of lookalikes: The “Problem Solvers Caucus.” They wore purple. 

Not that anyone noticed. 

What is it with these supposed adults who believe dressing alike makes some kind of statement? It’s silly. They should recover their dignity and dress themselves.

The Problem Solving Caucus is a bipartisan group of 48 members of Congress. Many of the 24 Dems - like Luria - are from districts won by Trump.

Looks like Luria’s lying low after voting to impeach the president. She’s trying to rebrand herself in this election year as the moderate she pretended to be in 2018 when she was running in this predominantly Republican district.

Remember Candidate Luria? She was coy about whether she’d support the unpopular Nancy Pelosi for speaker if Democrats took the House majority.

Once in office Luria quickly voted for Pelosi. Was anyone surprised? 

And days after being sworn in, Luria was packed and on on her way to Brussels and Afghanistan with Pelosi on a military jet until Trump called off the junket because of the government shutdown.

“Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan has been postponed,” Trump declared. “In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate.”

The president had their bus turned around on the runway. If Pelosi, Luria and others wanted to take the trip that badly, the president suggested they fly commercial.

A few weeks later, Luria was dressed in white with the rest of the squad as they scowled their way through Trump’s State of the Union.

She was not in white last week. It’s an election year, you know.

Bad optics.