HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — It’s election season, and that means it’s time to get out the Truth Tracker to break down the claims made in the Second District Congressional race between Republican incumbent Jen Kiggans and Democratic challenger Missy Cotter Smasal.
Kiggans declined an interview with 10 On Your Side, saying she was too busy. Cotter Smasal, however, did meet with 10 On Your Side to discuss issues and commercials on air.
Truth Tracker Claim 1
“Open borders. Higher taxes. the worst of Biden’s middle class tax hike. Missy Cotter Smasal backed Biden’s middle class tax hike.”
10 On Your Side asked Cotter Smasal about that — “border and higher taxes, is that what you support?”
“I am a Navy veteran, and I am committed to making sure that we have strong border security, and strong national security,” Cotter Smasal said. “It is important to know who is coming across our border.”
It is TRUE that Cotter Smasal supports President Joe Biden, but it’s also TRUE she has never held elective office to cast any vote to support any of those claims. It is TRUE, however, that Cotter Smasal opposes what she calls extreme rhetoric.
“I oppose the rhetoric from Republicans [about] dehumanization and some of the policies that would rip families apart,” Cotter Smasal said, “and I think that is cruelty.”
Truth Tracker Claim 2
Cotter Smasal hits Kiggans in her ad for Kiggans’ ties to controversial U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) of Georgia.
“When her MAGA teammate says entering the military is a waste, it’s like throwing your life away, and Kiggans votes with them to cut veterans’ benefits.”
It is TRUE that Kiggans does align with Taylor Greene. Kiggans is heard, and seen, on video saying this about Taylor Greene: “She’s been very nice to me. They’re on my team, right? They are my teammates. We all want the same things.”
Some would claim it’s wrong to hold Kiggans responsible for someone else’s words, but Cotter Smasal, in a sit-down interview with 10 On Your Side, disagreed.
“When Marjorie Taylor Greene says something like, ‘it’s throwing your life away to serve,’ I think Jen Kiggans has an obligation to come out strongly and say that she condemns that … and she doesn’t,” Cotter Smasal said. “… She just keeps voting with them … and … she supports a candidate for the presidency who has 34 felony convictions.”
Truth Tracker Claim 3
On the point of cutting veteran benefits, the ad against Kiggans states that “Kiggans votes with them [Republicans] to cut veterans’ benefits.”
Truth Tracker finds that FALSE.
Kiggans did not, in the end, vote to cut veterans’ benefits. Kiggans, on May 3, 2023, told 10 On Your Side that “absolutely, none of these things are written in the bill, if you go back and read it, not a single one, and using our veterans as political pawns just to get an agenda passed is wrong.”
But it is also TRUE that Kiggans and House Republicans passed a spending proposal that would, among other things, cut 80,000 Department of Veterans Affairs jobs and increase the backlog on disability claims for veterans.
“Literally, it is a tool we are using to get President Biden to come to the negotiation table,” Kiggans said in the 10 On Your Side report.
Cotter Smasal responded to that.
“It may have been one of your reports who challenged her,” Cotter Smasal said. “She actually said she used it as a tool for leverage, and what I would say to Jen Kiggans, veterans should never be used as tools for leverage.”
Truth Tracker Claim 4
“Jen Kiggans supports banning abortions, no exceptions.”
Truth Tracker finds that FALSE.
She has always supported these exceptions, and reiterated it at the Oct. 11 debate.
“I’ve never supported a federal ban on abortion,” Kiggans said. “I’ve always supported exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.”
However, it is also TRUE in an email interview with the Smithfield Times on June 7, 2022, Kiggans wrote:
“I am 100% unapologetically pro-life and am incredibly proud of my record protecting our most vulnerable.”
But there, she offered none of those exceptions.
Truth Tracker Claim 5
The commercial states: “Who’s behind liberal Missy Cotter Smasal? She is backed by the people who want to defund police. They have pumped Cotter Smasal’s campaign with cash.”
The ad says that, but does Cotter Smasal support defunding police?
“I absolutely am not. … I would never support that. I would never support defunding police. … That is a complete lie and is so untrue.”
Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Early voting ends Saturday, Nov. 2.