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He entered the crowded Republican primary race in Northern Virginia with little name recognition and no experience in public office or campaigning.
But early Sunday morning, retired U.S. Navy Captain Hung Cao, 50, withdrew with a Republican nomination in the 10th District of Virginia and a chance to face Representative Jennifer Wexton (D) in November. surpassing 10 candidates and upsetting the best-funded candidate, a member of the board of county overseers of Prince William Janine Lawson (R-Brentsville).
Cao, a Vietnamese refugee who has served as a Navy officer for 25 years, uses a personal story that many voters said was convincing, as it maximizes the reach of minority communities and addresses some of the same issues, such as the fight against indoctrination “” in education – this led Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (right) to victory last year. About 44 percent of the eligible voters in the district are minorities, including 17 percent of Americans of Asian descent.
“We came to this country with nothing,” Cao said in an interview Sunday. “We made our way up and made it work, and we used all the opportunities that this country gave us, and we didn’t take any donations. This resonates with all the people in the area, especially with all immigrants and minorities. And all hard-working Americans, not just minorities. “
Representative Bob Good, a Navy veteran Hung Cao, wins GOP nominations in Virginia
In the party’s primary election for firefighters who used ranked voting, Kao won approximately 53 percent of the vote, compared to Lawson’s approximately 34 percent. About 15,000 Republicans voted.
Cao’s victory creates an intriguing match between a political novice with a clear interest in conservative circles and Wexton, a former Ludoun County prosecutor and state senator who turned the county blue in 2018 with a double-digit advantage. Cao’s nomination is in line with the Republican Party of Virginia’s efforts to nominate more diverse groups of candidates to expand the party tent – such as Attorney General Jason S. Miares and Lt. Gov. Winsom Earl-Sears – and that could be an advantage. for Republicans what a difficult attempt it will be to oust Wexton in the Blue Quarter.
Although President Biden won the 10th, as he was now drawn by 18 percentage points in 2020, Republicans hoped the reversal of the red seat could be affordable after Youngkin made significant progress in the county in his race for governor , losing the second 10th place by less than two points. His success has prompted national Republicans to turn to Wexton, one of three Virginia congressmen hoping to be ousted in a midterm election year expected to be a referendum on democracy. Millions of dollars are likely to be invested in advertising and voter reach in the coming months from outside groups in both campaigns.
But as Cao’s victory illustrates, money is not always everything – even in a region like Northern Virginia, one of the nation’s most expensive media markets, where candidates have to fight for attention to deliver a message to voters. And as he prepares to stand up to Wexton, Cao says his victory has proven that political experience isn’t everything either: “Look at yesterday’s primary: They didn’t want a political veteran; they wanted a fresh voice, “he said Sunday.
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Lawson had raised more than $ 920,000 – more than twice as much as Cao’s – and had strong support from Republican Eliza Stefanick (New York), the third-ranked Republican in the House, and several other prominent right-wing activists.
Lawson presented himself as a leading fighter against “awakened” policies of racial justice. But Lawson also faced some attacks from the right wing over the vote he took in 2020 – a unanimous bipartisan vote – to “develop a framework for making William William a more inclusive and just county.”
David Ramadan, a former Republican state legislator who represented parts of Ludoun and Prince William counties, recalled that attacks on the vote were spreading in right-wing circles online. That was “amazing,” given that Lawson had a reputation for being a staunch conservative, he said.
“Janine Lawson started as a favorite candidate and had almost the support of Who’s Who from traditional conservative leaders and activists, from Morton Blackwell to Ken Cucinelli,” said Ramadan, an instructor at George Mason’s Shar School of Politics and Management. . “She also had a record as a civil servant – and that record was not right enough for the party’s MAGA wing.
Ramadan, noting the large population of Ludong County by South Asian Americans and immigrants, suggested that Cao may have succeeded with a resonant immigrant history and contact with the minority community – but also in part because there is no data the Republican base can criticize. And he is taking advantage of issues that energize these voters, such as the integrity of elections and the fight against educational policies involving racial equality, Ramadan said.
Cao was born in Vietnam and fled the country with his family shortly before the fall of Saigon in 1975. In an interview last week, he recalled how his mother sewed money into the hem of his clothes and that of his siblings in case they separated. And as he watched Kabul fall in August, seeing Afghan mothers hand over their babies to the US Marines, Kao said the deadly withdrawal reminded him of his family’s experience. Shortly afterwards, he decided to run for Congress.
A father of five children whose children study at home, Cao has been involved in education throughout his campaign. He advocated the choice of school and sought to urge conservative parents who became active in school board meetings to oppose “critical racial theory” and policies for racial equality and diversity.
Cao, who graduated from the district’s elite high school of science and technology, Thomas Jefferson, opposed changes in the school district of Fairfax County in the admission process. The district abolished the notorious difficult entrance exam and made other changes in an attempt to increase student diversity. But Cao and the parents of the TJ Coalition – who filed a lawsuit and fought the case in the Supreme Court – say the changes lower standards and discriminate against Asian Americans.
Cao’s position on education seems to excite Republican parents in Saturday’s election.
Candice van Schaik, 44, said she was studying some of her eight children at home, ranging from young children to a 19-year-old student – just like Kao, a shared experience that put her first.
“He seems to share many of the same values that I have,” said van Schaik, who also graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School. “To be a father, a businessman, to have served in the military and then to pursue a life with my family that seems in line with the values we raise our children with.”
Tim Vermillion, a 49-year-old engineer who ranked candidates Dave Beckwith, Lawson and Cao in his trio, said on Saturday that he needed to think about who could get the most votes in November.
Vermillion said he was “tired of Trump.” Independent voters may like a candidate of Cao’s descent more, he added, and “comes to immigration issues from a different perspective.”
Cao said he did not want to discuss any changes to the immigration system or the path to citizenship until the border is secured. He also addressed religious conservatives on issues such as abortion, saying he supported the repeal. Rowe vs. Wade and believes that abortion policy is best left to states.
J. Miles Coleman, associate editor at Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia, said in a recent interview that abortion could be a replacement factor in the blue neighborhood as the 10th and that it could be one of the problems motivating Democrats to come out. the urns.
“Republicans can’t be seen as too conservative on social issues,” Coleman said. “And deer it would be one of those things that would not change things drastically, but it might help the Democrats’ difference. “
MEP Sean Patrick Maloney, New York, chairman of the Democratic Congress’s Campaign Committee, said in a statement Sunday that Virginia voters would “reject Hung Kao’s toxic policies” and called Northern Virginia a “Weston country.”
In a statement, Wexton focused on his work in Congress, which supports coronavirus relief and the infrastructure bill, supports victims of domestic violence and holds “the Chinese government accountable for their atrocities against human rights.” Wexton is a member of the Chamber’s powerful committee on appropriations, as well as the Congressional Executive Committee on China, which monitors human rights violations in China among Uighurs and other religious minorities; the area is home to a large population of Uighur refugees.
“I look forward to continuing to travel around the new 10th district to meet with voters, listen to the needs of families and talk about how important it is to protect this place,” Wexton said.
Theo Armus contributed to this report.
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