VIRGINIA, USA — Congresswoman Jen Kiggans is defending her seat in Congress against her opponent Missy Cotter Smasal in another one of her commercials.
In this latest ad – paid for and approved by Jen Kiggans – audio from President Joe Biden can be heard endorsing Kiggans' opponent, Missy Cotter Smasal.
Let’s verify some of the claims from this latest ad:
Did President Biden endorse Missy Cotter Smasal in this race?
A check of her website shows many endorsements locally and nationally – but no mention of Biden.
In fact, that endorsement video was posted to Cotter Smasal’s Facebook page in November 2019!
A full year before Biden was elected president, and when Cotter Smasal was running for State Senate at the time.
And if you watch that Biden endorsement just a few seconds longer you will hear him say, " The stakes have never been higher to elect Missy Cotter Smasal to the state senate. This is the most consequential election in the Commonwealth’s history.”
So, we can verify no – President Biden’s endorsement of Missy Cotter Smasal is not from this race, it was from 5 years ago.
How about some of the claims made in this attack ad?
Did Missy Cotter Smasal give handouts to illegal immigrants from Biden's middle-class tax hikes?
In the ad, a narrator says, "Missy Cotter Smasal backed Biden’s middle-class tax hikes – and giving billions in handouts to illegal immigrants.”
In 2019, Cotter Smasal ran for State Senate and lost.
She has never served in public office and has no voting record to hold her to account.
On Election Day 2020, she tweeted a photo of her supporting the Biden-Harris ticket.
But in terms of her backing specific policies – 13News Now cannot verify the two claims made in the ad.
Of course, it is helpful to read up on the candidates and where they stand on the issues. Both Missy Cotter Smasal and Congresswoman Jen Kiggans discuss their stances on their respective websites.
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