An enthusiastic, overflow crowd crammed into a ballroom at the Marriott Oceanfront on 42nd Street Sunday afternoon to kick off Rep. Jen Kiggans’ re-election campaign. I’m not good at crowd estimates - plus I’m short and didn’t have a good vantage point - but there had to be 500 or more people in the room.

Present was a who’s who of GOP Virginia politicians from former Governors George Allen - who introduced Kiggans - and Bob McDonnell to Attorney General Jason Miyares, former members of Congress Thelma Drake and Randy Forbes and former Del. Glenn Davis who resigned his seat in the General Assembly to become Director of Virginia’s Dept. of Energy, Del. Barry Knight and Sen.-elect Danny Diggs.

Kiggans ticked off an impressive litany of bills passed by the slim Republican majority in the House, including one that would have stemmed the flow of immigrants entering the country illegally.

“We used to call it a crisis on our Southern border,” Kiggans said, “Now we call it a catastrophe.”

Kiggans noted that the 2nd District seat was one of just six that the GOP managed to flip in 2022 to take control of the House. The Democrats desperately want to flip her seat back into the D column next year and have been running negative ads against Kiggans since last summer. The congresswoman said she hates the “lies” that are told about her, but is willing to take the abuse to continue serving the 2nd District.

The rock star of the show was New York Rep. Elise Stefanik who gained national attention - and bipartisan support - last month when she masterfully eviscerated the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, MIT and her own alma mater, Harvard University, before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

The trio of academics refused to say that calling for genocide of Jews by students on their campuses violated their schools’ codes of conduct on harassment and bullying. Instead they began jabbering away in meaningless legalese.

What resulted from Stefanik’s questioning was a stunning display of cowardice and moral equivalency by the three academic stooges.

U Penn President Liz Magill resigned in disgrace almost immediately after the hearing and Harvard President Claudine Gay finally resigned last week after she was accused of more than 50 instances of plagiarism.

“Two down, one to go,” Stefanik quipped to the cheering crowd.

Stefanik worked to help get Kiggans elected in 2022 and said Sunday that the 2nd District is considered key to the GOP’s efforts to retain control of the House and enlarge their majority.

The New Yorker congratulated Virginians on being the first to embrace the parents’ rights movement that is gaining momentum around the country.

“Right here in Virginia is where the parents’ rights movement started,” she said, drawing a loud sustained ovation from the crowd.