KEY POINT: But Taylor’s involvement in the cynical effort to place Brown on the ballot, his inability to account fully for the behavior of his staff and his lack of understanding of how his decisions raise legitimate questions about judgment and trust is a disqualifying offense.

Voters can be confident that by replacing him with Luria, they will be in good hands for the next two years.

Our choices in top races

The Virginian-Pilot Editorial Board

WHEN VIRGINIA voters head to the polls on Nov. 6, the decisions they make could well determine the partisan apportionment of the 116th Congress set to convene in January.

On the heels of their victories in 2016, the Republican Party holds majorities in both chambers — a 235-193 advantage in the House and a slimmer 51-49 hold on the Senate. Democratic Party fortunes look promising for seizing back control of the House this year, but less so in the Senate.

The results in Virginia will go a long way toward shaping how the federal legislature looks for the next two years. But, more importantly, they will determine who advocates on behalf of the commonwealth in the coming term. After all, all politics is local.

In Hampton Roads, there are three House races (only two are contested, as U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott is unopposed in the 3rd Congressional District), and the statewide Senate race requiring voters’ attention at the ballot box this year. Thoughtful, informed decisions will ensure the region has a strong, focused voice in Washington.

The most compelling of these races is in the 2nd Congressional District, where first-term incumbent Republican Scott Taylor faces first-time Democratic challenger Elaine Luria to represent Virginia Beach, the Eastern Shore and part of the Peninsula.

Taylor, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and state delegate, won election two years ago after defeating fellow Republican Randy Forbes in the primary for the redrawn 4th District, then besting Democratic challenger Shaun Brown in the general election.

Brown is again a factor in the race, but only because staffers from Taylor’s campaign are accused of forging signatures so that she could make an independent bid for the seat. The matter is under criminal investigation and reflects poorly on Taylor, who is responsible for those in his employ.

That’s a shame, since Taylor is a pragmatic and determined voice for the district, especially on behalf of veterans and service members. He has advanced legislation to protect the housing rights of LGBTQ citizens and has used his place on the House Appropriations Committee to the region’s advantage, including on the critical need to protect Hampton Roads from sea-level rise.

His opponent, Luria, also is a Navy veteran of 20 years, and a small business owner in Norfolk. She has never held elected office, but she seems to have a good sense of the district’s concerns, particularly when it comes to health care, the protection of social safety net programs, and the needs of veterans.

Taylor has tried through advertising to paint her as an acolyte of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but Luria projects as a centrist Democrat, which is keeping in line with the moderate electorate in the 2nd District. And her insistence on improving the way Washington works — improving the process by which Congress governs — is an issue with particular resonance in a place that depends so much on federal budgeting and spending.

Both Taylor and Luria are capable candidates, and both could represent the district well. But Taylor’s involvement in the cynical effort to place Brown on the ballot, his inability to account fully for the behavior of his staff and his lack of understanding of how his decisions raise legitimate questions about judgment and trust is a disqualifying offense.

Voters can be confident that by replacing him with Luria, they will be in good hands for the next two years.

Voters in the 4th Congressional District, much like those casting ballots in the Senate race, have an easy decision before them.

Democratic incumbent Rep. Don McEachin has not exactly distinguished himself during his first term in office, certainly not from the perspective of representing Hampton Roads. The fear was that the Richmond resident seeking to serve the newly drawn district would forget about folks here if elected — and McEachin has done little to ease those concerns.

But he remains the best candidate, as his opponents cannot make a compelling case to replace him.

Libertarian Pete Wells is a well meaning and earnest candidate, but he lacks detailed knowledge of the issues facing the district.

And Republican Ryan McAdams might have enjoyed a turn in the spotlight when Vice President Mike Pence came to campaign for him recently, but his refusal to endorse the science of climate change — along with his endorsement of the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris accord and his belief that carbon might not be the cause of global warming, in opposition to countless scientific studies over decades — is unacceptable in a district where sea-level rise is an existential threat.

The 4th District needs McEachin to be a more familiar face in Hampton Roads — but it needs him to be the representative, above all.

Finally, for U.S. Senate, incumbent Democrat Tim Kaine faces Republican challenger Corey Stewart and Libertarian Matt Waters in what should be a straightforward choice for Virginians.

Voters might not know Waters, who is running a lightly funded, almost Republican-lite campaign on his party’s ticket. But they are probably by now familiar with the bombastic Stewart, the chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

He came to statewide attention in 2016 as the chairman, for a time, of the Donald Trump campaign in Virginia before last year mounting an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

His time in the spotlight has done little to make him a palatable option to represent Virginia. The Minnesota native seized on the issue of preserving Confederate statues as a path to political relevance and has worked in the year since to distance himself from Jason Kessler, organizer of the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, with whom Stewart appeared at a different 2017 rally.

In contrast with his GOP opponent, Kaine has conducted himself as a senator with the type of affable, common-sense professionalism that distinguished his four years as governor and his time as mayor of Richmond before that.

The 2016 Democratic Party nominee for vice president has been a pointed voice in favor of reasserting congressional authority on military engagement and on behalf of service members, veterans and their families, a great many of whom live and work in this region.

A former civil rights lawyer, Kaine advances policies promoting diversity and inclusion, rather than pushing the politics of division and bringing more anger into the public square. And he helped lead the effort to thwart repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the mechanism by which some 400,000 Virginians will soon have access to coverage through Medicaid expansion.

Kaine is a respected voice in the Senate and for Virginia. He deserves another term in office.