Hung Cao, who ran for Congress in northern Virginia last year, is considering running for the U.S. Senate against Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), sources familiar with the matter told Breitbart News.
Cao, a source close to the former candidate told Breitbart News, is currently focused on running the new federal super PAC Unleash America PAC, of which he is the honorary chairman. However, he is, this source said, looking at a possible bid for U.S. Senate against Kaine, the partisan Democrat who was then-presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton’s running mate in 2016.
Cao, who was the GOP nominee in Virginia’s 10th congressional district in the 2022 midterm elections, nearly flipped the seat back into GOP hands after that district went for Democrat President Joe Biden by 19 points in 2020. Cao clawed back 13 of those points, and only lost the general election by just over six points to Democrat Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA).
Cao’s personal story, going from being a refugee from war-torn Vietnam to serving as a Special Operations Navy Captain, captivated Virginia voters and donors alike—as he raised $3.2 million in just eight months on the trail, making him one of the party’s top 2022 fundraisers.
As an Asian-American, as well, he brings diversity to the GOP on the campaign trail, and party leaders heralded his candidacy—as well as the candidacy of several other Asian-American candidates nationwide, many of whom were successful. In recent years, for instance, Republicans have elected Reps. Young Kim (R-CA) and Michelle Steel (R-CA) in California—and the GOP’s Alan Fung was similarly nearly successful in deep-blue Rhode Island in 2022.
Democrats had feared that Kaine might not run for reelection after longtime Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) in Michigan announced her retirement there, and Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) announced he is battling cancer. But Kaine shocked political observers on Friday when he announced he is in fact running for reelection, a welcome sign for Democrats—and a sign for Republicans that they will need a strong challenger to try to turn the tide in the Old Dominion.
Republicans have had some recent success in Virginia, with now-Gov. Glenn Youngkin winning the governor’s mansion and the GOP winning each statewide elected office in 2021. But that success was slowed this last election when Republicans were trying to flip several congressional seats—including the one Cao ran in, but also against Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA)—and only ended up unseating one Democrat, now former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA). Current Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA) won that seat in the Virginia Beach area of the state to turn the second congressional district back to red for the first time in years.
The 2024 U.S. Senate map more broadly is likely to be much more forgiving to and filled with much more opportunity for Republicans. In addition to Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, Democrats are defending seats in Ohio, Montana, West Virginia, Nevada, and Wisconsin. In Arizona, too, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema—now an “Independent” who left the Democrat Party but still caucuses with Democrats—will face a challenge, not just from a Republican but also from Rep. Ruben Gallegos (D-AZ) from the Democrat side. Republicans only need to flip a net two seats to take an outright majority in the Senate, and if the GOP wins the White House back too, one seat is enough to have a 50-50 functioning majority in the chamber with whoever the Vice President would be, cutting the tie.