Virginia's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024

	2026 → ← 2022
Virginia's 2nd Congressional District
	Democratic primary; Republican primary; General election
Election details
	Filing deadline: April 4, 2024
	Primary: June 18, 2024; General: November 5, 2024
How to vote
	Poll times: 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Voting in Virginia
Race ratings
	Cook Political Report: Lean Republican; DDHQ and The Hill: Lean Republican; Inside Elections: Tilt Republican; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
	U.S. Senate battlegrounds; U.S. House battlegrounds; Federal and state primary competitiveness; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2024
See also
	Virginia's 2nd Congressional District; U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th ; Virginia elections, 2024; U.S. Congress elections, 2024; U.S. Senate elections, 2024; U.S. House elections, 2024; Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

Virginia 2024 elections

U.S. Senate • U.S. House • Special state legislative • State ballot measures • Local ballot measures • School boards • Municipal • How to run for office

Incumbent Jennifer Kiggans (R) defeated Missy Cotter Smasal (D) in the general election for Virginia's 2nd Congressional District on November 5, 2024.^[1]^[2]

The Washington Post's Meagan Flynn wrote the district "...is about as middle-of-the-road as they come, full of independents and swing voters, where military service isn’t so much an advantage for candidates as it is a prerequisite."^[3]

Before her election to Congress, Kiggans was a state senator from 2020 to 2022. She earned her bachelor's degree in international relations from Boston University in 1993. She served in the Navy as a helicopter pilot for 10 years. After her naval service, she used the GI Bill to return to school and became a nurse practitioner.^[4]^[5]

Smasal earned her bachelor's degree in political science and her master's degree in education.^[6] She served as a surface warfare officer during the Iraq War and owned a small business for more than a decade. She was the executive director of a nonprofit and an adjunct professor.^[7]

Kiggans ran on her record, and focused on issues she said voters cared about. When asked how she won in 2022 and her re-election strategy, Kiggans said, "I was very careful and made sure I talked about the kitchen table issues, ...It goes to show you: You try to serve people, ...and they vote for that."^[8] She criticized Smasal as a vote for Democratic policies that she said Virginia's voters would reject. A Kiggans representative said, "Missy Cotter Smasal is an out-of-touch liberal activist... This November, voters in southeast Virginia will once again reject Washington liberals' failed agenda and reelect Jen Kiggans..."^[9]

Smasal made abortion a key campaign issue. In an interview, she said, "In Congress, I would prioritize defending and protecting reproductive rights, abortion access, and health care. I will vote to restore Roe v. Wade and guarantee that women have the freedom to make their own health care decisions."^[6] Smasal criticized Kiggans' abortion stance, which she said would affect women veterans. She said, "She’s actually voted to try to prevent women in the military from being able to access reproductive care when they’re stationed in a place that takes away their bodily autonomy."^[10]

NOTUS's Ryan Hernández said, "The suburban district is near the largest naval station in the country, Naval Station Norfolk. And both Kiggans and Cotter Smasal have Navy experience."^[11] Both candidates made military issues central to their messaging. Kiggans' campaign focused on her record on veterans' issues. Her website states, "Jen knows how important it is for our nation to honor its promises to our veterans, which is why she successfully fought to fully fund the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and provide them with their largest-ever budget during her first term in Congress."^[12]

Smasal criticized Kiggans' record, saying she did not adequately serve the district's veterans. She said, "Virginia’s veterans deserve a member of Congress who will honor our promises, not ones, like Kiggans, who vote to take away their benefits, threaten military readiness, and use servicemembers as political leverage." Kiggans disputed these claims, and a campaign representative said, "Jen Kiggans has kept her promise to restore American strength by supporting our military and Virginia’s families."^[13]

Based on third-quarter reports filed with the Federal Election Commission before the election, Kiggans raised $6 million and spent $5.2 million, and Smasal raised $2.8 million and spent $2.6 million. To review all the campaign finance figures in full detail, click here.

Before the election, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, Decision Desk HQ and The Hill, and Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball each rated the general election Lean Republican, while Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales rated it Tilt Republican.

Independent Robert Reid also ran.

Virginia's 2nd Congressional District was one of 34 congressional districts with a Republican incumbent or an open seat that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) targeted in 2024. To read about DCCC targeting initiatives, click here. For a complete list of DCCC targeted districts, click here.

For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House Virginia District 2

Incumbent Jennifer Kiggans defeated Missy Cotter Smasal and Robert Reid in the general election for U.S. House Virginia District 2 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jennifer Kiggans (R)	50.7	207,368
		Missy Cotter Smasal (D)	46.9	191,666
	Submit photo	Robert Reid (Independent)	2.3	9,197
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	471

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 408,702
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Virginia District 2

Missy Cotter Smasal defeated Jake Denton in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Virginia District 2 on June 18, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Missy Cotter Smasal	70.1	20,480
	Jake Denton	29.9	8,732

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 29,212
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Jennifer Kiggans advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Virginia District 2.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Virginia

Election information in Virginia: Nov. 5, 2024, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

In-person: Nov. 5, 2024
By mail: Postmarked by Oct. 15, 2024
Online: Oct. 15, 2024

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

Yes

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

In-person: Oct. 25, 2024
By mail: Received by Oct. 25, 2024
Online: Oct. 25, 2024

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

In-person: Nov. 5, 2024
By mail: Postmarked by Nov. 5, 2024

Was early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What were the early voting start and end dates?

Sep. 20, 2024 to Nov. 2, 2024

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When were polls open on Election Day?

6:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. (EST)

Candidate comparison

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Jennifer Kiggans

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: Yes

Political Office:

United States House of Representatives (Assumed Office: 2023)
Virginia State Senate (2020-2022)

Biography: Kiggans earned her bachelor's degree in international relations from Boston University in 1993. She served in the Navy as a helicopter pilot for ten years. She earned a bachelor's degree in nursing from Old Dominion University in 2011 and then received a master's degree in nursing from Vanderbilt University in 2012. She worked as a nurse practitioner after graduating.

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Kiggans supported fighting inflation and reducing federal spending. Her website said: "In Congress, Jen prioritizes cutting inflation and lowering the cost of living for a more secure economy for the American people. She successfully fought to reduce federal spending by helping to pass Washington’s first meaningful spending cuts in years."

Kiggans focused on veterans issues, discussing her record helping veterans. Her website said: "As a 10-year Navy veteran, daughter of a veteran, wife of a veteran, and mother to future veterans, Jen knows how important it is for our nation to honor its promises to our veterans, which is why she successfully fought to fully fund the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and provide them with their largest-ever budget during her first term in Congress."

Kiggans criticized Smasal as out of touch with the district and as someone who would vote for Democratic policies:"Missy Cotter Smasal is an out-of-touch liberal activist who would be nothing more than a rubber stamp for Joe Biden and the Democrats' destructive policies. This November, voters in southeast Virginia will once again reject Washington liberals' failed agenda and reelect Jen Kiggans, a commonsense conservative with a proven track record of delivering results for families, veterans, and seniors."

Show sources

Sources: Jen Kiggans for Congress, "Issues," accessed August 5, 2024, WTKR, "Democratic nominee Missy Cotter Smasal wins primary election," accessed August 5, 2024; Jen Kiggans for Congress, "About," accessed August 5, 2024; LinkedIn, "Jen Kiggans," accessed August 5, 2024

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Virginia District 2 in 2024.

Missy Cotter Smasal

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Biography: Smasal earned her bachelor's degree in political science from Villanova University and earned her master's degree in education from Old Dominion University. She served as a Surface Warfare Officer during the Iraq War. She owned a small business for over a decade, was the executive director of a non-profit, and was an adjunct professor.

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Smasal said she supported access to abortion and restoring Roe: "In Congress, I would prioritize defending and protecting reproductive rights, abortion access, and health care. I will vote to restore Roe v. Wade and guarantee that women have the freedom to make their own health care decisions."

Smasal focused on her experience owning a small business and the perspective she said it gave her: “As a former small business owner, I saw in real time how chaos in Washington can impact businesses in Hampton Roads... Our local economy thrives when government and military services are stable and reliable. I will always advocate for policies that allow Coastal Virginia to flourish.”

Smasal criticized Kiggans for not standing up for the district's veteran voters: “Virginia’s veterans deserve a member of Congress who will honor our promises, not ones, like Kiggans, who vote to take away their benefits, threaten military readiness, and use servicemembers as political leverage.”

Show sources

Sources: Virginia Scope, "A Q&A with VA-02 Democratic candidate Missy Cotter Smasal," accessed August 5, 2024, 13 News Now, "Democrat Missy Cotter Smasal launches 2024 campaign for House seat held by Jen Kiggans," accessed August 5, 2024, Associated Press, "A Navy veteran announces bid to seek Democratic nomination in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District," accessed August 5, 2024; The Virginian-Pilot, "2nd District Democratic primary candidates: Missy Cotter Smasal and Jeremiah ‘Jake’ Denton IV," accessed August 5, 2024; Missy Cotter Smasal for Congress, "Meet Missy," accessed August 5, 2024

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Virginia District 2 in 2024.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign ads

Jennifer Kiggans

View more ads here:

Missy Cotter Smasal

View more ads here:

Facebook

Election competitiveness

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

Polls are conducted with a variety of methodologies and have margins of error or credibility intervals.^[14] The Pew Research Center wrote, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times."^[15] For tips on reading polls from FiveThirtyEight, click here. For tips from Pew, click here.

The links below show polls for this race aggregated by FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, where available. Click here to read about FiveThirtyEight's criteria for including polls in its aggregation.

FiveThirtyEight

Race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.^[16]
Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.^[17]^[18]^[19]

Race ratings: Virginia's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 5, 2024	October 29, 2024	October 22, 2024	October 15, 2024
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Tilt Republican	Tilt Republican	Tilt Republican	Tilt Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

Click the links below to see official endorsement lists published on candidate campaign websites for any candidates that make that information available. If you are aware of a website that should be included, please email us.

Missy Cotter Smasal

Election spending

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Jennifer Kiggans	Republican Party	$6,481,318	$6,461,351	$45,477	As of December 31, 2024
Missy Cotter Smasal	Democratic Party	$3,250,763	$3,237,816	$12,947	As of December 31, 2024
Jake Denton	Democratic Party	$388,964	$388,964	$0	As of August 14, 2024
Robert Reid	Independent	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. * Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.^[20]^[21]^[22]

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

By candidate	By election
Jennifer Kiggans Missy Cotter Smasal	Open Secrets FEC

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

District map

Competitiveness
Presidential elections

State party control

Below was the map in use at the time of the election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Virginia.

Virginia U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024
Office	Districts/ offices	Seats	Open seats	Candidates	Possible primaries	Contested Democratic primaries	Contested Republican primaries	% of contested primaries	Incumbents in contested primaries	% of incumbents in contested primaries
2024	11	11	2	53	22	6	3	40.9%	2	22.2%
2022	11	11	0	33	16^[23]	1	4	31.3%	2	18.2%
2020	11	11	0	31	15^[24]	4	2	40.0%	2	18.2%
2018	11	11	2	37	17^[25]	6	3	52.9%	2	22.2%
2016	11	11	2	29	20^[26]	1	4	25.0%	2	22.2%
2014	11	11	2	32	20^[27]	1	3	20.0%	2	22.2%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Virginia in 2024. Information below was calculated on June 16, 2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Fifty-three candidates ran for Virginia’s 11 U.S. House districts, including 33 Democrats and 20 Republicans. That’s an average of 4.81 candidates per district.

This was also the most candidates who ran in primary elections in Virginia in the last 10 years.

The 7th and 10th Congressional Districts were open in 2024. The last time a seat was open in Virginia was in 2018 when two seats were open.

Incumbent Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-07) did not run for re-election because she will run for Governor of Virginia in 2025. Incumbent Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-10) retired from public office.

Sixteen candidates—12 Democrats and four Republicans—ran for the open 10th Congressional District, the most candidates who ran for a district in Virginia in 2024.

Nine primaries—six Democratic and three Republican—were contested in 2024. Between 2014 and 2022, an average of 5.8 primaries were contested each election year.

Two incumbents—Gerald Edward Connolly (D-11) and Bob Good (R-05)—were in contested primaries in 2024. Since 2014, there have been two incumbents in contested primaries in Virginia in every election year.

Candidates filed to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all 11 districts, meaning no seats are guaranteed to either party.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+2. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 2 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Virginia's 2nd the 213th most Republican district nationally.^[28]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

2020 presidential results in Virginia's 2nd based on 2024 district lines
Joe Biden	Donald Trump
50.1%	48.2%

Inside Elections Baselines

See also: Inside Elections

Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.^[29] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.

Inside Elections Baseline for 2024
Democratic Baseline	Republican Baseline	Difference
47.8	51.1	R+3.3

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Virginia, 2020

Virginia presidential election results (1900-2020)

17 Democratic wins
14 Republican wins

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020
Winning Party	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D

See also: Party control of Virginia state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Virginia's congressional delegation as of May 2024.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Virginia
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	2	6	8
Republican	0	5	5
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	11	13

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Virginia's top four state executive offices as of May 2024.

State executive officials in Virginia, May 2024
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Glenn Youngkin
Lieutenant Governor	Winsome Earle-Sears
Secretary of State	Kelly Gee
Attorney General	Jason Miyares

State legislature

Virginia State Senate

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	21
	Republican Party	19
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		40

Virginia House of Delegates

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	51
	Republican Party	49
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		100

Trifecta control

The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until the 2024 election.

Virginia Party Control: 1992-2024
Four years of Democratic trifectas • Four years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
Governor	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R
Senate	D	D	D	D	S	S	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D
House	D	D	D	D	D	D	S	S	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	R	R	D

Election context

Ballot access requirements

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Virginia in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Virginia, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
Virginia	U.S. House	Ballot-qualified party	1,000	$3,480.00	4/4/2024	Source
Virginia	U.S. House	Unaffiliated	1,000	N/A	6/18/2024	Source

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2018.