Hung Cao beat out four contenders in the Republican U.S. Senate primary election on Tuesday for the chance to take on Sen. Tim Kaine in November.
After about $5.7 million spent and more than one and a half years of campaigning for many of the five contenders, Virginia’s U.S. Senate primary ended with Cao as the victor.
"Tomorrow, we begin our campaign to save the country that saved my life. I spent twenty-five years in the Navy, while Tim Kaine spent thirty years in elected office. The taxpayers signed the front of our paychecks for the same amount of time," Cao said in a post on X after the race was called on Tuesday. "The difference is this: Tim Kaine got rich, and I got scars. Tim Kaine has already placed $2 million in television advertising for the fall, where he will pollute the airwaves with lies about me, but also about him."
With Cao's campaign coffers nearly empty after a hard-fought race, he will need to do some significant fundraising to compete with Kaine, who is entering into the General Election with more than $8.5 million cash on hand, according to the FEC.
Scandal plagues the Republican nominee
Retired Navy Captain Cao did not escape from the primary race unscathed. His campaign came under fire in April after it came to light that the front-runner had launched a super PAC with questionable spending practices.
When Cao launched Unleash America in February 2023, the super PAC had one stated goal: To get Republicans elected during Virginia’s 2023 statehouse contests to support Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s agenda, as reported by the Staunton News Leader and USA Today.
The PAC raised $103,489 in individual contributions from around the country, which Cao called a “minimal amount” in an interview with a conservative talk show host. Cao’s principal U.S. Senate campaign committee,Hung Cao for Virginia, contributed $45,000 to the super PAC, for a total of $148,489 raised by Unleash America between January and December 2023.
After Republicans lost the House of Delegates in Virginia and failed to flip the Senate, analysis of Unleash America’s expenditures showed no support of any kind, in-kind or otherwise, for Virginia’s Republican candidates. Instead, funds raised by the super PAC went to pay people and companies connected to Cao’s current U.S. Senate bid, as well as his failed 2022 bid for Congress.
Cao dodged questions about the super PAC and its spending, and instead attacked the newspaper that first reported the story, referring to it as a “hit job” from “the left.” He called the Staunton News Leader a “Podunk” newspaper which set off another firestorm and prompted criticism from Cao’s opponents who said the candidate was dismissive of rural Virginia.
Cao also failed to show up to many of the candidate forums that took place around the commonwealth, leading up to the primary.
Kaine responds
Scandals aside, Cao has a significant amount of work cut out for him if he hopes to beat Kaine in November. Cao polled at 36% to Kaine’s 48% according to a survey conducted in April among 500 registered voters in Virginia.
He will enter the General Election with $202,637 after spending $2.3 million of the $2.5 million he raised during the primary, against Kaine's $8.5 million war chest.
“I’m facing an opponent who called a Staunton newspaper ‘podunk’ and claimed that traveling from Northern Virginia to Abingdon for a candidate forum would be ‘ridonkulous.’ How elitist!” Kaine said in a statement following the election results. “You know I’ll stand up for you because I always show up for you.”
“I’ve been standing up for Virginians for 40 years as a civil rights lawyer and public servant representing my city, Commonwealth and country. As your Senator, I’ll keep standing up for an economy that works for all, affordable healthcare, reproductive freedom, enhanced career and technical education and strengthening our military and allies while supporting our troops, veterans, and their families,” Kaine continued.
Republican voters share why they chose Cao
Rachel Pfab, 60, of Powhatan County, said she didn't know much about the other four candidates in the race.
"I've seen Hung Cao and what I've heard of him, I like," she said. "I didn't really know much about the other candidates."
Peggy Lewis, 84, of Goochland County, said she voted for Cao because he was the only candidate in the Republican Senate primary who she felt would uphold conservative values and the U.S. Constitution.
"I do believe this country is in great peril of losing our republic," she said. "It's unheard of, the executive orders that President Biden is issuing. Very destructive. Very destructive to our way of life."
Lewis, who also voted for state Sen. John McGuire in the Fifth Congressional District race, said former President Donald Trump's endorsem*nt of either candidate had little to do with her choice.
