One of Virginia’s best-known elected leaders faces a challenge from a retired U.S. Navy captain from Purcellville who is a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump.
Republican Hung Cao is running for Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine’s seat in the U.S. Senate.
An immigrant whose family came to this country from Vietnam, Cao has made border security his top campaign issue but says deporting all undocumented immigrants could take time.
“If we secure the border, if we stop giving them money, if we immediately deport incarcerated persons and enforce companies to use E-Verify, the system will work itself out,” he said.
Kaine said he’s voted for massive border security funding bills three times only to have them blocked by Republicans. But he says any sort of mass deportation would devastate the economy.
“I do think a workforce-based immigration reform is good for everybody,” he said. “So, let’s take that border security piece and then in the workforce area we can look at things like dreamers and TPS visas to really make sure that we’re having the workforce that America needs.”
Cao also says he wants to see U.S. troops deployed in U.S. cities to help in the fight against transnational gangs.
“These are terrorists, and this is a counterterrorism operation,” he said. “I’d like to use active-duty military to thwart that cause.”
Kaine said he helped sponsor a bill enabling the U.S. military to work with the Mexican military to interdict fentanyl but says police can handle the job inside this country.
“I think our law enforcement is up to this task,” he said.
While Virginia is home to more than 150,000 federal workers, Cao backs Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s call to fire or relocate many of them. He wants to shut down the Department of Education.
Cao also takes aim at the FBI leadership and says he’d support clearing out senior executives and all GS15s in the D.C. area, even if those jobs belong to Virginians.
“They’re not going to vote for me anyway, because they are the leftists, you know, communists that have been destroying this country,” he said.
“President Trump has said he wants to move 100,000 federal employees – forcibly relocate them and their families – outside Virginia, Maryland and D.C.,” Kaine said. “How is that going to help the Virginia economy?”
On abortion, a key issue for many voters, Cao is satisfied with the Dobbs decision shifting decision making to the states.
“I will not vote for any federal regulation on abortion, because it belongs to the states,” he said.
Kaine wants congressional action to restore a national standard for abortion rights.
“I’m going to continue to fight any national abortion ban and promote a national statutory protection that would essentially replicate Roe v. Wade,” he said.
On tax policy – another sharp divide – Cao wants to add to the Trump tax cuts, removing taxes on social security and tips. Kaine would bump up the child tax credit and focus on tax cuts for low- and moderate-income Americans rather than keeping the Trump corporate tax cuts permanent.
Kaine leads Cao by a healthy margin in most polls, but Cao predicts if every Trump voter in Virginia also votes for him, that gives him a chance.
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