Only one of the two candidates vying for Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District seat attended a Sept. 4 forum hosted by the Isle of Wight County Citizens Association and the Carrollton Civic League at the Smithfield Center.

U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., did not participate. According to Kiggans’ Facebook page, the congresswoman instead attended a Virginia Beach panel discussion on former President Ronald Reagan as a panelist ahead of a screening of the biopic “Reagan” movie in theaters.

Missy Cotter Smasal, Kiggans’ Democratic opponent on the November ballot, seized on Kiggans’ absence to paint the GOP incumbent as more concerned with partisanship than representing her constituents.

“Kiggans was invited to join you tonight multiple times, and she declined multiple times. … I will always listen; I will always show up,” Smasal told the crowd of roughly 45 attendees.

Citizens Association President Herb De Groft, who moderated the forum, confirmed in an Aug. 13 email to The Smithfield Times that both candidates had been invited as of that date, though Bill Yoakum, chairman of Isle of Wight County’s Republican Party chapter, said Kiggans’ participation in the Reagan movie discussion was also arranged well in advance of Sept. 4.

Kiggans campaign spokesman Reilly Richardson said the campaign had “established our debate schedule over a month ago” and had announced on July 30 that Kiggans would participate in a single debate at the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.

“There’s a lot of really important issues to discuss and we look forward to thoroughly outlining the differences between Congresswoman Kiggans and her opponent at the Hampton Roads Chamber Debate in October,” Richardson said.

“I think the Kiggans’ campaign made a big mistake in not having her participate, and ultimately the final decision was Jen’s,” De Groft told the Times following the forum. “She was first invited in late June after the primary election, as was Smasal.”

De Groft claims Kiggans’ campaign never responded to his invitations to attend, though  Richardson says that’s not true, and shared emails to De Groft  telling him on July 30 and again on Aug. 14 that Kiggans would not attend the Smithfield forum.

De Groft, copying the Times, had first invited Kiggans to participate in the Sept. 4 forum in a June 11 email.

During the hour-and-a-half forum, De Groft posed 28 questions to Smasal, covering her positions on gun laws, abortion, the U.S.-Mexico border, and funding foreign wars in Ukraine and Israel.

Smasal, referencing the mass shooting that killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Georgia that morning, said she supports Virginia’s so-called red flag law, which allows courts to order the temporary seizure of firearms from people deemed a substantial risk of injury to themselves or others, and laws that require the safe storage of firearms, which she said are “common sense” measures that can ensure people like the 14-year-old suspect accused of perpetrating the Sept. 4 shooting not have access to weapons.

On abortion, Smasal called the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of its landmark Roe v. Wade abortion-rights case and subsequent laws in Republican-led state legislatures to restrict abortion “an attack on your rights and freedoms,” and said she would “protect Virginia law,” which remains the only southern state where abortion is still legal up until the third trimester.

Smasal said Americans “absolutely need to know who is coming and who is going across our border” and “can do that in a humane way.”

On Israel and Ukraine, Smasal said she would continue to support both countries in their armed conflicts.

Israel “was attacked” on Oct. 7, 2023, and “has a right to defend itself” from the Hamas militants who, on that date, killed an estimated 1,200 Israeli civilians at a music festival and took more than 250 as hostages, Smasal said, stating it’s also “essential that we stand up to Russia” by continuing to support Ukraine.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 3:04 p.m. on Sept. 6 with additional comments by Kiggans campaign spokesman Reilly Richardson on why Kiggans did not attend the Smithfield forum.