RICHMOND — U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on Tuesday secured a decisive victory over his Republican challenger Hung Cao that earned him a third term on Capitol Hill. Kaine defeated Cao, a retired U.S. Navy captain, with 53-47% of the votes, according to unofficial numbers from the Virginia Department of Elections. The Associated Press called the race at roughly 11:20 p.m.
During his re-election campaign, Kaine consistently championed the policies of President Joe Biden, aligning himself with key legislative achievements that he argued were vital for Virginia’s growth and prosperity, including the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1.2 trillion package that has been heralded as a major win for modernizing America’s transportation and infrastructure systems.
Kaine also is an avid supporter of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which he has repeatedly hailed as a crucial step toward addressing economic and environmental concerns. The act aims to reduce the deficit, tackle rising inflation and lower healthcare costs, while also making historic investments in clean energy and climate change mitigation.
Throughout the year, Kaine emphasized how these measures would benefit Virginians, from creating jobs in infrastructure to supporting the state’s transition to renewable energy.
“I think ‘make, build, grow’ is the right message. We make it here, we build it here, we grow it here,” Kaine told The Mercury in a recent interview. “That takes advantage of the bills that we passed, but it also is a reflection of the fact that manufacturing jobs are up, we are doing infrastructure in a major way, so why not lean into what is actually happening on the ground?”
Pre-election polls had consistently shown Kaine, a Harvard-educated lawyer, leading by double-digit points, reflecting his enduring popularity in the commonwealth, where he previously served as governor, lieutenant governor and Richmond’s mayor.
Cao, who won his party’s nomination during a five-way primary election on June 18, ran a spirited campaign that focused on conservative values like curbing government spending and bolstering national defense. Cao also supported former President Donald Trump’s sweeping proposal to deport all undocumented immigrants.
While his background as a Vietnamese immigrant and military veteran brought a unique perspective to the race, despite Trump’s endorsement Cao struggled to overcome Kaine’s strong name recognition and deep ties to Virginia’s electorate — and, at times, his own rhetorical fumbles on the stump.
Cao’s campaign marked the Republican’s second attempt at running for public office. In 2022, he unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Loudoun County, in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, losing by 53-47%.
Even before seizing the Republican nomination for one of Virginia’s two seats in the U.S. Senate, Cao often found himself stumbling over his own remarks.
On a conservative podcast in May, Cao pushed back against allegations in a story published by the Staunton News Leader that the political action committee he had launched to support Republican candidates in 2023 mostly benefited his own Senate bid, calling the allegations “a hit job” and referring to the News Leader as a “podunk local newspaper.”
Cao also suggested that it was “ridonkulous” to drive from his home in Purcellville to Abingdon for a campaign forum, and also appeared to grapple with Virginia geography when he told Brian Kilmeade of Fox News in July that “anything south of Loudoun and Fairfax is Southern Virginia.”
And at their sole candidates debate at Norfolk State University, Cao’s attempts at articulating his policy platform were overshadowed by his remarks suggesting that the Navy uses drag queens as recruitment tools and his stereotyping of Asians as being good with math.
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