Missy Cotter Smasal

U.S. House, VA-02

Missy Cotter Smasal is a U.S. Navy Veteran who served as a Surface Warfare Officer during Operation Enduring Freedom. After her deployment, Missy settled in VA-02 where she owned and operated a small business for more than a decade. Missy now serves as the Executive Director of Valor Run, a nonprofit organization that honors service women, and works as an adjunct professor at Old Dominion University. She also serves as the Virginia Citizen Representative on the Chesapeake Bay Commission, a bipartisan, multi-state commission focused on Bay restoration. Missy is committed to a diplomacy-first foreign policy, a position based on her experiences in the armed services and the priorities of her neighbors in VA-02, many of whom are veterans, active-duty servicemembers, or who work at NATO’s North American headquarters located just outside the district.