Following the Funds: Kiggans & Cotter Smasal spend millions in VA 2 race, even though much of their funding isn’t public yet

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — It’s practically a Tidewater tradition.

Every two years, advertisements hit the airwaves from candidates with both the Democratic and Republican nomination, vying to hold the seat representing Virginia’s second congressional district.

This year, Missy Cotter Smasal is challenging incumbent Rep. Jen Kiggans , (R-Virginia Beach) for the seat.

So far, more than $5.7 million has been spent in the race in advertising, according to data compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project . More than 64% of the money has been spent by Super PACs and advocacy groups not directly affiliated from the campaigns.

The House Majority PAC, which has close ties to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has spent more than $2.5 million to help Smasal.

Kiggans’ candiacy has received more than $731,000 in support from WFW Action Fund, American Action Network and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The remainder have come from the candidates themselves.

However, if you go ‘Following the Funds’ to see who really is fueling the candidates locally, you will quickly realize the funds haven’t been reported since before the Fourth of July.

Under federal campaign finance law, candidate committees are only required to file their activity quarterly. Meaning, even though early voting has been underway for more than two weeks in Virginia, much of the information on who is funding some of the ad blitz is still under wraps.

More than 7% of registered voters in the district have already cast their ballot, according to data analyzed by 10 On Your Side. Brendan Glavin with OpenSeacrets , another non-profit covering money in politics, said this does give a voter something else to think about.

“So now we’re waiting till October 15 to get those third quarter reports,” Glavin said. “And it does create this big gap of information where we don’t have information about donors right now. We don’t have information about how the campaigns are spending their money.”

Changing the reporting deadlines to line up with early voting would require congressional action, according to the Federal Election Commission.

While neither campaign said they’d advocate for such a change, both candidates are using the issue of campaign finance to their messages.

“I’m running a grassroots-powered campaign that puts Coastal Virginians first,” Smasal said. “The entire campaign finance system needs an overhaul because voters should be prioritized over wealthy donors and corporations. There should be full transparency about who is funding political campaigns to avoid the pay for play corruption politicians like Jen Kiggans have engaged in.”

The League of Conservation Voters is currently running an ad on local TV that accuses Kiggans of being caught up in a ‘pay-to-play’ scandal.

Earlier this year, Kiggans accepted $3,500 from Rocket Lab USA, an aerospace and defense company, who reportedly was in favor of a Natural gas pipeline extension to Wallops in Accomack County in order to fuel some of its launches, according to reporting in Politico .

In the months following the donations, Kiggans requested $7.4 million in funding for the project. The request was ultimately withdrawn with Kiggans’ citing the need to further clarify the project .

“Jen Kiggans works hard every day to ensure the Second District of Virginia has the support it needs, from our military and veterans to the infrastructure necessary for good paying jobs,” Reilly Richardson, a campaign spokesperson, said. “This lie is just another desperate smear attempt from the floundering campaign of Cotter Smasal. If Missy Cotter Smasal is truly concerned about transparency in elections, I suggest she starts with her own campaign, which is almost exclusively powered by dark money and national extreme liberal organizations bankrolled by out-of-state billionaires.”

Dr. Ben Melusky, a political science professor at Old Dominion University, said most donations are made to gain access to the candidate.

“We always think about money itself as it doesn’t buy a yes vote, right?” Melusky said. “It doesn’t create somebody who is beholden to a an organization or an interest group or an individual. However, what it does do, and we do know, is that it does create access. So, when a bill is being shaped, or a bill is working its way through committee … what it is doing is it’s creating access for that group to be able, when they do call a member, that member will take the call, they will take the meeting, they will meet with a representative. So it does give them greater access to them than, say, the average person would think.”

It’s a practice that knows no party lines, Melusky said.

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