A Razor Thin Race with Black Voters as the Key: Dem Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Missy Cotter Smasal Campaign in Suffolk, Virginia Beach
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Razor Thin: Leader Jeffries Campaigns at Black Businesses with Missy Cotter Smasal In Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District
SUFFOLK, VA — The man who could be the next Speaker of the U.S. House if Democrats win back the majority, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, campaigned at three Black owned businesses in Suffolk, Virginia yesterday alongside Missy Cotter Smasal who is the Democratic nominee running against Republican incumbent Jen Kiggans.
The Stakes
Smasal’s race in Virginia’s second congressional district is one of the vital battleground congressional seats in the country that will decide if Leader Jeffries will become Speaker Jeffries. Winning back the U.S. House will also mean that Congressman Bobby Scott will retake the gavel as Chair of the Education and Workforce Committee in the U.S. House. The committee’s jurisdiction includes two huge policy areas heard often at the doors: Jobs and education.
“I want to thank Bobby Scott, the once and future Chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor. When we take back the majority Bobby Scott will have that gavel again,” Jeffries told the crowd last night. Leader Jeffries also gave a shoutout to Virginia’s historic first Black Speaker of the House of Delegates, Don Scott. Don Scott stood in the crowd holding up a Missy Cotter Smasal sign during the rally.
As is the case in every cycle in Virginia — federal and state — the Black vote is a vital block of the Democratic base at 20 percent of the population. Like no other group under the Democratic Party umbrella, Black voters win — or lose — elections that decide who gets power. In Virginia’s second congressional district, the Black population is 22 percent. The district is anchored by Virginia Beach and includes parts of Chesapeake, Franklin and Isle of Wight.
There is ongoing discussion based on polling that a slightly larger percentage of Black voters may be supporting Donald Trump but only the results on Election Day can reveal the facts. Black women are followed by Black men as the first and second most reliable voters for Democrats nationwide and in Virginia.
Razor Thin
Jeffries was in Suffolk to campaign for Smasal who is taking on Republican incumbent Jen Kiggans in a race now defined as “razor thin.” Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives need to gain four seats to win control of the chamber.
Jeffries’ visit comes a day after a poll by the Wason Center at Christopher Newport University showed that Smasal’s race with Rep. Kiggans is essentially tied. Kiggans defeated Democratic congresswoman Elaine Luria 51-48 in 2022. Smasal’s race is a battleground along with Virginia’s 7th congressional district race as the two most competitive congressional races in Virginia in 2024. But political observers are also keeping an eye on Virginia’s 5th after Democrat Gloria Witt out-raised Republican State Senator John McGuire in the last three months. McGuire has been hit with district level internal GOP party drama.
Leader Jeffries and Smasal spoke and campaigned for over 90 minutes in a historic section of downtown Suffolk at 2 p.m. The duo then reconvened in Virginia Beach for a lively rally at Virginia Wesleyan University at the dinner hour. Both focused on freedom of choice, saving democracy, voting rights and wealth creation as they spoke to audiences in Suffolk and Virginia Beach.
“Among many other things that we’ll work on, and of course we’ll focus on work and wages and wealth creation for this community, we also know that your right to vote has been under assault — the right to vote has been under assault all across the country,” Leader Jeffries said to a crowd of about 60 people gathered in the main dining area of Rennie’s Restaurant at 156 W. Washington Street.
Jeffries’ remarks on voting arrived on the same day that a federal court in Alexandria was hearing arguments in a lawsuit by the Department of Justice against Virginia and Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration for purging the voting rolls of legal and lawful voters who should not have been removed, a fact confirmed yesterday.
Rennie’s was one of three Black owned businesses located on Washington Street that Jeffries and Smasal visited. The House Democratic Leader from Crown Heights, Brooklyn chatted with business owners and patrons, purchased and enjoyed a gourmet ice tea and played a brief moment of pool as Smasal introduced herself to several people at each location and exchanged voting information, policy talk and biographical details. Smasal, a U.S. Navy veteran, featured a number of veterans in her latest ad released on Oct. 18 defining Kiggans as aligned with MAGA Republicans.
Former House of Delegates member Clint Jenkins, who is running for Mayor of Suffolk, and his wife Karen Jenkins, were on hand in Suffolk and Virginia Beach, as were several other community leaders.
Leader Jeffries has been flying all over the nation to battleground House districts — ones that will decide the majority and either hold back the tide of fascism and anti-democratic policies by Trump if he wins — or assist the Vice President with her agenda in the White House if Harris and Smasal are simultaneously victorious.
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA — “Know that we are on the right side of history,” said Smasal during the rally in a packed room of Democrats at Virginia Wesleyan University, “we just need to finish strong,” she added.
To perhaps the surprise of the Cook Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the race between Smasal and Kiggans is now a must watch. The rallying crowd at Virginia Wesleyan featured several energetic volunteers canvassing the room with clipboards to sign up even more volunteers to assist with door knocking and ground game chores in the last 11 days of the 2024 campaign.
Elected officials from Hampton Roads, including Congressman Bobby Scott, Virginia Speaker of the House Don Scott, State Senator Aaron Rouse and his wife Virginia Beach Councilwoman Jennifer Rouse, Delegates Michael Feggans, Alex Askew, Nadarius Clark, Cliff Hayes and former Delegate Jay Jones were on hand clapping, holding signs and cheering.
The Chair of the Chesapeake Democrats David Washington and Gaylene Kanoyton, a vital and omnipresent community leader in Hampton Roads, were also in attendance as the final push towards Nov. 5 gets well under way.
Virginia Beach, the Commonwealth’s largest city, is one of the most competitive locations for Democrats and almost always features close and competitive races that can swing either way.
Republicans Have This Thing Called ‘Complain and Blame’
“In the last four years Biden and Harris have created more jobs than any Republican president whether they served four or eight years,” Rep. Scott said before introducing Smasal.
“The Republicans have this thing called complain and blame… Democrats put more money in to public education K-12 in the American Rescue Plan Act than any legislation in the history of the United States and did not get a single Republican vote. Not one,” Scott forcefully told the crowd.
“You will be the difference this year between choosing competence over the chaos of the MAGA majority. You will be the difference in choosing seriousness over the MAGA sideshow. You will be the difference in choosing to build our country back up instead of letting MAGA continue to try and tear it down,” Smasal told the crowd after Rep. Scott’s introduction.
Leader Jeffries will be in Virginia’s other battleground district, the seventh congressional district, campaigning in support of Eugene Vindman, on Sunday, Oct. 27 in Prince William County. Vindman is running in a close race against Derrick Anderson. Both are military veterans though Anderson, in what is now becoming a standard attack strategy, has been attempting to “swift boat” Vindman’s military service.
The race in the seventh is much like the competition in the second. Both races are vital bellwethers for what is to come for American democracy and the future of the United States.
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Great election coverage in Virginia --much better than larger news sources. Love Black Virginia News! Go Missy Cotter and Gloria Witt!!!