Back in July 2019, we posted about how then-State Senate candidate Jen Kiggans (R) went from shrill, hard-right views on women’s reproductive freedom (e.g., ranting about supposed “infanticide”) and other issues (e.g., claiming that the ERA could harm women and that “we can’t continue down this path of socialism” – whatever that even means) during the Republican primary, then pretended to be a “moderate” (e.g., ditching the “infanticide” language and instead talking about her supposed plan to provide women alternatives to abortion, as well as for “affordable and quality women’s healthcare,” and changing the heading of the “LIFE”/”Infanticide” section of her website to “FAMILIES”) for the General Election.
This wasn’t a fluke, by the way; in August 2022, we posted about how Kiggans deleted her extreme anti-choice and anti-trans views from her website’s issues page after she won the Republican primary for VA02 in June 2022. For instance, Kiggans removed her pledge to pass “pro-life legislation”; editing a claim that she stood up to attempts to expand access to abortions and force taxpayers to pay for abortion in Virginia; inserting a previously unmentioned claim that she supports expanding access to contraception; deleting a claim that she was a champion for women “impacted by abortion”; etc. Also, Kiggans’ issues page had previously included a section titled “transgenderism in our schools” where she highlighted her anti-trans votes and claimed that she needed to “protect our children from transgender policies.” After she won the Republican primary, she completely scrubbed her anti-trans positions!
Of course, candidates often run to the “middle” during the general election, but Kiggans takes it to another level – and not just on her website. The main thing is that Kiggans pretends to be some sort of “moderate” – and the media totally enables her in doing so, because…yep, the media’s awful, including LOVING to pretend (falsely) that there are Republican “moderates,” etc. – but is FAR from being a “moderate.” A few examples of why Kiggans is no “moderate” include her campaigning with far-right-extremist Ted Cruz, Kiggans’ abysmal “Progressive Punch” ratings on crucial votes (1.5%) and relative to her district lean (“F”), her embrace of the “Big Lie” regarding the 2020 election, her endorsement by extremist Rep. Elise Stefanik (who “aided Trump in his efforts to overturn the [2020] election results”), her campaigning with conspiracy theorist/climate denier/anti-LGBTQ bigot/etc. nutjob Sen. Marsha Blackburn, her willingness to “sell her soul” to get elected, she celebrated the overturning of Roe v Wade, she voted for extremist Mike Johnson for Speaker and praised the horrendous Marjorie Taylor Greene, she fundraised for insurrectionist John McGuire, she endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2024, etc, etc.
So yeah, that’s Jen Kiggans for ya – definitely not a “moderate,” also definitely not honest about who she is. Thus, as noted above, she overhauled the issues page of her campaign website just before the VA-02 Republican primary election, then did the same thing in 2022 following the Republican primary to soften her anti-abortion stances; to claim she supposedly “supported legislation to protect both Social Security and Medicare from being used to finance Democrats’ out of touch policies” (in reality, Kiggans voted in favor of the Default on America Act, something she was “proud to be a part of,” which would have worsened Social Security and Medicare assistance wait times for seniors and people with disabilities). Kiggans also removed language claiming she would provide more affordable drug plan options for seniors; significantly reduced the “election security” section of her website, including removing language that claimed “Americans on both sides of the aisle have openly challenged the security and integrity of our elections, and they have completely lost faith in their elected officials to fix it”; changed the national security section of her website to remove language that previously listed North Korea as a global nuclear threat and deleting part of a sentence that said she would “never” vote to cut defense spending; etc.
Bottom line: Jen Kiggans is a right wingnut dishonestly masquerading as a “moderate,” and has no business representing VA02 in Congress. This November, VA02 voters have a golden opportunity to make a change – and they should seize it, by electing Democrat Missy Cotter Smasal instead!
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