Virginia Senator Tim Kaine (D) expressed disappointment that his opponent, Hung Cao (R), declined to participate in three scheduled debates and forums. This continued a pattern observed during the GOP primary when Cao skipped 12 of 13 candidate forums.
In a press release, Kaine states that he remains committed to discussing his efforts to support Virginia’s economy, health care, reproductive rights, and military families in an upcoming debate in Norfolk on October 2. Potomac Local emailed the Hung Cao campaign for a comment and received no response.
Yesterday, Cao held a veterans event in Norfolk.
Early voting for the November 2024 General Election begins Friday, September 20, 2024.
Press release:
Last week, the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce/NBC4 and AARP had to cancel their respective Senate debate and forum because the Cao campaign informed them that he refused to participate. The Northern Virginia Chamber/NBC4 debate was originally scheduled for September 19, and the AARP forum was scheduled for September 13.
Michael Beyer, Communications Director for Kaine for Virginia, released the following statement in response:
“As is tradition, Senator Kaine accepted four invitations for debates and candidate forums in different regions of the Commonwealth. He is disappointed that his opponent has refused to participate in the first three. But he isn’t surprised—his opponent skipped 12 of 13 candidate forums during the GOP primary.
“Senator Kaine looks forward to appearing with his opponent in Norfolk on October 2 to talk about his record of standing up for Virginians and describing his ongoing work to create high-quality jobs, reduce health care costs, protect reproductive freedom, and support our military families and veterans.”
Last month, the Virginia Bar Association canceled their debate on July 20 because they were “unable to obtain a timely commitment to participate from the Cao campaign.”
Cao skipped 12 out of 13 candidate forums during the GOP primary, only attending a single forum in his home county. The list of GOP forums he skipped is as follows:
- Spotsylvania US Senate Candidate Forum – 2/25
- Virginia Beach Republican Women’s Club Candidate Forum – 2/27
- US Senate Candidate Forum, Virginia Beach – 3/16
- US Senate Candidate Forum – Immigration/Economy, Arlington – 3/18
- Virginia Beach Candidate Forum – 3/25
- Chasing Freedom Virginia National Security Forum, Arlington – 4/9
- Candidate Forum, Suffolk – 4/11
- US Senate Candidate Forum, Chesterfield – 4/20
- VA US Senate Republican Candidate Forum, Alexandria – 4/30
- US Senate Candidate Forum, Appomattox – 5/4
- US Senate Candidate Town Hall Forum, Chantilly – 5/11
- Virginia Republican US Senatorial Candidate Forum, Staunton – 5/17
Updated — Virignia Gov. Glenn Youngkin expressed his frustration at the White House after it did not provide him with a briefing on the arrests of two illegal immigrants charged with ramming the gate and trespassing on Quantico Marine Corps Base.
They haven’t briefed me at all, which is just stunning. What I know is what you know,” Youngkin told Potomac Local News during a tour of the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office’s National Night Out event at Spotsylvania Towne Center on Tuesday, August 6, 2024.
A federal judge released Hasan Y. Hamdan and Mohammad K. Dabous on bond on July 22. Both are due back in an Alexandria federal courtroom in September. They are just some of the illegal immigrants Potomac Local News has learned have entered Quanctio Marine Corps Base, a trend among military bases as more illegal immigrants appear to be testing the security of military installations across the U.S.
“I’m just shocked they could be released when they were illegally here and not turned over to the authorities to be dealt with,” said Youngkin.
The governor asked the White House for a briefing on the incident 76 days ago. Youngkin said the silence from the Biden administration is “consistent on what it’s demonstrated” when it comes to open border policies.
“[Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee] Kamala Harris needs to live with the fact that she was the border czar. They may try to deny it, but that was her job. She didn’t do anything to secure the border, and now we’re one border state,” said Youngkin.
Youngkin toured the community fair with Derrick Anderson, a Spotsylvania native who’s running to replace Abigail Spanberger (D) in Congress. Spanberger is not seeking reelection.
Republican State Senate Candidate Hung Cao was also there.
“We have to shut down the border immediately. I mean, that’s got to happen right now. We’re seeing illegal immigrants coming in day in and day out, causing havoc not only to the United States but here in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said Anderson. “We have five people in Virginia dying from fentanyl overdoses a day in the Commonwealth. We’re seeing an impact in us.”
Republican Senate Candidate Hung Cao also attended the event. He’s running against incumbent Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine, who told WJLA-TV he’s not in favor of a mass deportation of illegals. “The notion of mass deportation or calling everybody invaders, no, that’s not something I support,” the senator told the TV station.
“First of all, I’m a legal immigrant to this country. And I’m telling you, don’t ask for the American dream if you’re not willing to obey the American laws and embrace the American culture,” said Cao. Shame on him for not defending this country like he’s supposed to and living up to his oath of office.”
Despite Democrats removing Biden from the presidential ballot and replacing him with his vice president, Younkgin said Trump may win Virginia, a state he’s never won and one in which he lost to Biden by 10 points in 2020.
“Virignia is still in play,” said Youngkin.
@GlennYoungkin attended the@SpotsySheriff National Night Out event at @SpotsylvaniaTC on August 6, 2024 with @DerrickforVA and @HungCao_VA pic.twitter.com/0jwDnDd2HT
— Potomac Local News (@PotomacLocal) August 7, 2024
It’s obvious where Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine stands on abortion access. And that’s not just for the fact that his party has been outspoken in support of access and other reproductive rights. Kaine has also co-sponsored the bipartisan Reproductive Freedom For All Act — an attempt to codify abortion protections into federal law.
The congressional candidates made their closing arguments in the 2022 campaign at events across the region on Monday, November 7, 2022.
First Lady Jill Biden joined Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D), who is hoping to hold onto Virginia's 1oth District seat, which she's had for four years. The First Lady joined Wexton for an event in Loudoun County.
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Updated 7 p.m. –– The Republican Party of Virginia filed a lawsuit against the Prince William County Elections Office.
The GOP says the county has not done its job to allow handpicked party representatives to work as poll chiefs and assistant chiefs on Election Day, November 8, 2022.
It’s stepping in and taking over for Prince William County Republican Party Chairman Denny Daugherty, who disputed county voter registrar Eric Olsen’s decision to place poll chiefs, who are members of the Prince William Democratic Party, at 12 polling places, across the county’s 93 voting precincts.
Olsen chose the party-affiliated Democrats based on their prior election experience. However, state law requires registrars to place party-backed chiefs in positions if available.
Since 2020, the GOP in Prince William County has made strides to attract new members to the party and now has enough people to fill these roles, Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Richard Anderson told Potomac Local News.
RPV Chairman Richard Anderson says:
“The lawsuit seeks a temporary injunction for the purpose of compelling Prince William County to comply with long-established provisions of the 1971 Constitution of Virginia, which requires equal representation of the two major political parties in election officer positions at Virginia polling locations. Because the lawsuit is now in the hands of the court, the Republican Party of Virginia and other Republican entities do not intend to answer questions until the court has rendered its decision.”
Olsen told Potomac Local News he’s anticipating being served with the lawsuit, which the RPV filed Wednesday, October 19.
Meanwhile, Prince William County will take center stage in the battle for the 7th District as Republicans bring in well-known faces to campaign for Yesli Vega, who aims to unseat Democrat incumbent Abigail Spanberger in Virginia’s 7th District.
Tomorrow, Saturday, October 22, former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard will join Vega at her campaign headquarters outside Quantico Marine Corps Base. Last week, Gabbard announced she is no longer a Democrat and will join Vega at 10:30 a.m. for a rally at 18354 Quantico Gateway Drive in Triangle.
On Monday, October 24, the U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas will join Gov. Glenn Youngkin for a rally for Yesli Vega at Montclair Tabernacle Church, 16120 Dumfries Road near Dumfries, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. It’s the second time this year that both Cruz and Youngkin will stump for Vega.
The church hosted Youngkin, Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, and Attorney General Jason Miyares in May 2021 when they were campaigning for seats in the November 2021 General Election.
On Saturday, November 5, the Youngkin will lead a rally in Haymarket to lead a rally for Hung Cao (R), who is looking to unseat Jennifer Wexton (D) in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District. The rally will beat 10:30 a.m. at the QBE Building, 14604 Washington Street in Haymarket.
Congressional candidates Jennifer Wexton (D) and Hung Cao (R) spoke to voters at a forum Wednesday night in Manassas Park.
Mary Washington University Professor Dr. Steven F. Fuller asked more than 10 questions of the candidates during an exchange that lasted nearly an hour and a half. Many of them were about multiple crises facing the nation — inflation, the weakening economy, increased fuel costs, and increased mortgage rates in a cooling Real Estate market.
Cao says the Federal Government should lift restrictions on domestic energy production that “cripple the gas industry, which happened on day one of the Biden administration.”
Wexton blamed oil companies for increased prices, claiming they’re gouging customers, and supported President Biden’s push to convert to green energy by forcing a shift to electric vehicles to decrease reliance on fossil fuels.
Cao called the forced shift a penalty for citizens and business owners who cannot afford the more expensive electric motors. “We can’t get to clean energy overnight,” said Cao. “To punish the American poeple is wrong.”
On the teetering economy last month, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates three-quarters of a percent to 3.75%. In Woodbridge on Friday, September 30, 2022, Richmond Fed Bank President Tom Barkin told business leaders that he expects rates to increase to nearly 5% next year.
Cao said the Fed should stop its price-fixing measures. “It brings up prices of gas and mortgages when you fix rates… that’s when prices go up across the board,” said Cao.
On abortion, Wexton said the Supreme Court’s decision to allow state legislatures, not the federal courts, to decide to let abortion is about controlling a woman’s body. Cao supports allowing state legislators the opportunity to determine whether or not abortion should be legal in respective territories.
On Russia’s War in Ukraine, Wexton called for the continued financial support of Ukrainian soldiers, to which the U.S. has pledged more than $50 billion, more than any other country. Without being asked, Wexton assured the crowd that there was no fraud, waste, or abuse of the war funds.
Cao suggested congress become more concerned with worsening illegal immigration on the southern U.S. border at Mexico than the border of Russia and Ukraine.
Since Biden took office, millions of illegal immigrants have crossed the border and flown to cities across the U.S.
“We need higher walls and wider gates,” said Cao. “Walls worked on the military installations I served on in Afghanistan.”
“We don’t favor walls,” said Wexton. “We must use facial recognition software and x-ray trucks to prevent smuggling.”
The proliferation of data centers in Prince William County was one of the few local issues about which the candidates were asked. Both oppose local efforts by the Prince William County Government to allow data centers to be built on 2,100 acres next to the Manassas National Battlefield Park.
“There’s a place for everything, and the data centers have no place near the battlefield,” said the Battlefiled “[Prince William County Supervisors] should place data centers in industrial areas.”
Paving over rural areas will affect the region’s water supply by producing more sediment runoff into area streams, which flow into the Occoquan Reservoir, used by two million people in Fairfax and Prince William County, including Fort Belvoir.
“We encroaching on the water that affects that base, and that’s where I would step in as a federal legislator,” said Cao.
Wexton also doubled down on her assertion that her opponent has “extreme views” over those who have been imprisoned in a Washington, D.C. jail following riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. “I called Mr. Cao extreme because his views are extreme. Our democracy needed protection when they wanted to overturn a free and fair election result.”
Following Biden’s unprecedented speech on September 1, 2022, labeling those who supported Donald Trump as semi-fascist enemies of the state, Cao took issue with Wexton’s lack of response.
“A representative with integrity would have stood up to him and said, Mr. President, you’re wrong. The voters in our district may disagree with your politics, but many of them are police officers, firefighters, and government employees who have integrity,” said Cao.
Cao didn’t mince words when asked whether or not transgender students should be able to use the locker room of their choosing when playing scholastic sports. “Biological boys do not belong in girls’ lockerrooms or on girls’ sports teams,” said Cao.
The statement elicited gasps from Wexton supporters. Wexton criticized Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin after the Virginia Department of Education reviewed new guidelines aimed to restore parents’ rights taken away by the previous Northam administration, to be notified if their child seeks counseling for gender and must consent if a child wants to be called by another pronoun other than what’s noted on a birth certificate.
“[The guidelines] vilifies [transgender children] and use them as political pawns,” said Wexton.
During closing statements, Cao asked voters to consider whether or not their families are better off financially and if they feel safer in the face of rising crime versus two years ago.
Meanwhile, Wexton promised to continue fighting for “our values.”
The Prince William Committee of 100 and the League of Women Voters Prince William and Fauquier counties sponsored the debate at the Manassas Park Community Center.
Wexton is seeking a third term as Virginia’s 10th Congressional representative. The former assistant district commonwealth’s attorney won a seat in the Virginia State Senate in 2014 and then beat Republican Barbara Comstock for the 10th District seat in 2018.
Cao is a retired Navy captain of 25 years and a Vietnamese refugee, making his first bid for public office.
The General Election is Tuesday, November 8, 2022.
- The deadline to register to vote or update an existing registration is October 17, 2022.
- The deadline to apply for a ballot to be mailed to you is October 28, 2022. Your local voter registration office must receive your request by 5 p.m.
- Voter registration offices open for early voting: Saturday, October 29, 2022.
- The last day of in-person early voting at the city’s voter registration office is Saturday, November 5, 2022, at 5 p.m.
