VIRGINIA BEACH — Rhena Hicks considers herself fortunate that she and her husband were able to save money and buy a house five years ago at a low interest rate. If they were shopping for a home today, Hicks believes it would be a different story.

“I don’t know if we could do it, or we would be in a much smaller place, or maybe not as nice of a place that were able to get at that time,” she said.

Hicks, co-executive director of Freedom Virginia, a nonpartisan group that works to advance economic security policies, joined a dozen other community advocates to discuss affordability issues including the rising cost of healthcare, gas and groceries.

The roundtable discussion on Wednesday was led by Elaine Luria, the Democratic candidate running for Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. It was held at Sundae Scoop, an ice cream shop on Kempsville Road in Virginia Beach.

Luria faces U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, the Republican incumbent. The two Navy veterans last faced off in 2022, when Luria lost the seat in a highly contested race.

Participants in the roundtable included college students, parents and older adults. Among them was a teacher and coach who is worried about students not being able to afford food and sports gear. Retirees in the group stressed the importance of maintaining their access to medical care and other benefits.

“Everybody is working hard or has worked hard their whole career, and now they’re in the situation where they’re just struggling to get by in this current environment,” Luria said at the start of the event.

Phillip Harrell, owner of Sundae Scoop, participated and said he employs college students who want to purse graduate degrees in medicine and law but can’t afford to do so. He’s concerned that young adults are missing out on opportunities because of the rising costs of education and fears they may never own a home.

Luria said she would fall back on her experiences in the Navy when it comes to leading Virginians toward a better life.

“What makes the military successful is taking care of its people,” she said.

If elected, Luria said she would implement bills that will improve lives, not make them harder.

“Is every policy that we’re looking at and considering going to make life easier for people is a starting point,” Luria said.

Throughout the discussion, Luria called out Kiggans for supporting President Donald Trump’s initiatives for stricter eligibility restrictions to federal benefits including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid.

Max Richtman, president of a national committee based in Washington that aims to preserve Social Security and Medicare, participated in the roundtable. He raised concerns about projected future cuts to Social Security benefits, which may be avoided if Congress takes steps including increasing the amount of income that is subject to Social Security tax.

“When you go back, you’re going need these,” Richtman said, as he handed Luria a pair of red boxing gloves. “Keep fighting for seniors.”

She said the gesture was ironic because she watched “Rocky II” with its iconic rematch scenes last night.

Luria also addressed participants’ concerns about affording health insurance.

“There are different ways to go forward to increase the access for affordable healthcare,” she said.

Among those paths, Luria said she would support phasing in an option for people to buy Medicare at a younger age (the health insurance program is for people age 65 or older and younger people with some disabilities) and wants to undo Medicare cuts made by the Trump administration.

“We’ve got to get in there, take things over, stop the bleeding, reverse the things that have been done,” she said.

_____

©2026 The Virginian-Pilot. Visit pilotonline.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.