It appears that there will only be one debate in the VA-02 congressional race between Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans and her Democratic challenger, Missy Cotter Smasal. The negotiations over this one debate have already created some drama in the race, however. Both campaigns have accused the other of playing games with statements about debate participation.
The group hosting the debate stepped into the conversation to clarify what has actually transpired during the planning process.
It started with a press release from Kiggans on Tuesday challenging Smasal to a single debate hosted by the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce — typically held in October.
“Today, incumbent Congresswoman Jen Kiggans announced that she is officially challenging her opponent to one debate for the 2024 campaign cycle,” the press release from the Kiggans campaign stated.
In response, Smasal provided Virginia Scope with a statement saying she had accepted the invite to participate in the debate prior to the challenge from Kiggans.
“D.C. politician Jen Kiggans seems to have perfected the art of political theater – she’s ‘challenging’ me to a debate that we’ve both already been invited to and agreed to,” Smasal said.
Smasal took it further to challenge Kiggans to additional debates.
“Maybe Kiggans is trying to lower expectations to only one debate to hide the facts that she’s voted to cut veterans benefits and voted against abortion rights again and again,” she continued. “Coastal Virginians deserve representation that is accountable to the issues of local working families, which is why I not only agreed to this debate, but am calling for more.”
Danny Laub, who has worked for Kiggans since her first run for Congress in 2022, accused Smasal of lying about accepting the debate invitation prior to the challenge on Tuesday.
According to Gretchen Heal, the chamber’s vice president of governmental affairs, the Smasal campaign had been discussing participating in the debate with them but had not accepted the invitation prior to Tuesday.
Heal says that the last thing she heard from the Smasal campaign was that they were going to look at dates for debates and get back to her by Friday. But then Friday came and went, and she heard nothing.
Heal says she did hear from the Smasal campaign after the Kiggans press release was sent out on Tuesday, however.
“Will [Smasal] retract her ridiculous statement now that she’s been caught in a bold-faced lie?” asked Reilly Richardson, a spokesperson for the Kiggans campaign, after the statement from Heal was reported.
While Smasal is pushing for additional debates, this will likely be the only one to take place in the 2nd Congressional District race.
Kiggans made it clear in her press release on Tuesday that she is only participating in one debate, and a member of her team took it even further to say that she will only participate in this one specific event hosted by the Chamber.