Missy Cotter Smasal

Missy Cotter Smasal is seeking to represent Virginia’s 2nd Congressional district. She is running in a coastal district that includes Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, and Franklin. Her opponent is a one-term Republican who won the 2022 election in a close race.

Cotter Smasal served in the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer and was deployed aboard the U.S.S. Trenton during Operation Enduring Freedom.

After returning home, she opened a small business, a local Rita’s Italian Ice, which she owned and operated for more than a decade. She is now the executive director of a nonprofit organization that honors service women. She and her husband, Bryan, who served as an Army officer, have lived in Virginia Beach for more than 20 years, and have two children who attend Virginia Beach public schools.

Cotter Smasal serves on the Chesapeake Bay Commission as the Virginia citizen representative. She is campaigning as the non-MAGA choice for her district. “We reject [current U.S. Rep.] Jen Kiggans and the MAGA extremism she supports in Congress. . . . Instead of standing up for Coastal Virginia she leans into the extremist MAGA agenda by voting to cut benefits and health care for veterans and to restrict abortion access for millions of women in Virginia and active-duty service members.”

Reproductive freedom: “You have an innate right to control your own body. You should not lose that right depending on where you live, who controls your state legislature, or where your military orders station you and your family.”

Military families support: “I joined the Navy because I wanted to serve my country, not myself. Our veterans and military families deserve someone who will stand up for them.”

Local economy: “Coastal Virginians know that our local economy thrives when government and military services are stable and reliable.”