Kaine faces off against controversial GOP challenger Cao in high-stakes U.S. Senate race

The morning of Monday, April 16, 2007, is forever etched in Virginia Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Kaine’s memory.

On that tragic day, Seung-Hui Cho, an undergraduate student at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, killed 32 people and wounded 17 others in a mass shooting before taking his own life. The incident, carried out with two semi-automatic pistols, remains one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

“I still have a lot of almost PTSD kind of scar tissue about that,” said Kaine in a recent interview. At the time, he was in the second year of his four-year term as Virginia’s governor.

Now, 17 years later, Kaine is seeking a third term in the U.S. Senate. The Democrat faces a challenge from Republican Hung Cao, a retired Navy captain and political newcomer. With polling data showing Kaine holding a comfortable lead, both candidates are ramping up their campaigns as they approach the final stretch.

Kaine and Cao clash on immigration, the economy in heated debate at Norfolk State University

For the Minnesota-born, Harvard-educated lawyer, who began his career in public service as a civil rights attorney before moving into politics, sensible gun regulations are one of the key issues defining Kaine’s campaign and setting him apart from his opponent. If reelected, it’s an area that he wants to continue to work on.

“We haven’t done enough yet to reduce gun violence,” Kaine said in the interview. “I had a teacher tell me not long ago, ‘when we do that moment of silence at the beginning of every day, I know every adult in the building is thinking, let today not be that day.’”

Virginia’s children, parents, and teachers shouldn’t have to worry every day, Kaine added.

“So I do feel like there is more that can be done. Virginia has done some good things, and with the NRA headquarters here, we ought to be able to pass some of these gun safety laws in Congress,” he said, referring to universal background checks, closing loopholes in gun sales, and banning assault weapons, measures he has advocated for in his time on Capitol Hill.

Throughout his 12-year tenure in the Senate, Kaine has been a steadfast advocate for progressive policies, focusing on healthcare, education, and climate change.

His bipartisan efforts relating to military issues — such his role in sponsoring the War Powers Consultation Act, which seeks to clarify the role of Congress in war decisions, and his support of the expansion of the GI Bill and improving mental health services for military personnel — have also helped solidify his reputation in a state with a significant military presence.

Kaine’s incumbency gives him a distinct advantage, not only due to name recognition but also thanks to his deep ties across the commonwealth. As the husband of Anne Holton — the daughter of former Republican Gov. Lindwood Holton — he has positioned himself as a champion of Virginia’s diverse demography, from residents of urban centers like Northern Virginia to the rural regions of the Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“Showing up is part of the job, and I tell people if somebody won’t show up for it, they’re never gonna stand up for you,” Kaine said about his strategy for remaining a popular contender in Virginia, a state that has leaned Democratic in more recent times, but that still remains open to electing Republicans, as Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s 2021 victory has shown.

“I want people to know that I will stand up for them and you do that by being everywhere. Plus I enjoy it. I mean, I love the job, but more than the 36 weeks a year I’m in D.C., I love the 16 weeks when I’m in Virginia, and figuring out ways I can help with whatever challenges or aspirations people have.”

Kaine’s opponent Cao, who immigrated to the U.S. as a child after fleeing communist Vietnam, presents a sharp contrast to the Democratic incumbent.

With a platform closely aligned with former President Donald Trump — who endorsed him earlier this year — the Loudoun County resident has focused heavily on issues like immigration and national security, echoing Trump’s “America First” rhetoric.

Cao declined to be interviewed for this story, but he has openly supported Trump’s plan to deport all undocumented immigrants that are currently in the country. Cao also supports the former president’s effort to build a border wall, which he began during his first term in the White House.

“We will build the wall, we will secure the border through advanced technology, we will support the Border Patrol and border states, and we will repel this invasion,” Cao said on his website.

The Republican has also echoed Trump’s calls for imposing more tariffs for imports from countries like China, which he called “an existential threat” to the United States.

“There is no excuse for American exports to be taxed at a higher rate than Chinese imports,” Cao said on his website.

As a former Navy special operations officer who has served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia, Cao has lamented the drop in the U.S. military’s recruitment numbers.

Since 2013, male enlistments have decreased by 35%, going from 58,000 men enlisting in 2013 to 37,700 in 2023, according to the service data. Meanwhile, female recruitment has hovered around 10,000 recruits each year.

“Our military must have the resources it needs to face growing instability around the world. Right now, we face abysmal recruiting numbers and deficits in overall readiness. This is a leadership problem first and foremost and our active duty servicemembers deserve better,” Cao said on his website.

Looking ahead to the Nov. 5 election, Kaine conceded in the interview that at least the presidential contest will be close, in part because Democrats have failed to communicate what he called the economic victories of President Joe Biden’s administration.

Among these accomplishments, Kaine named the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which authorized $1.2 trillion for transportation and infrastructure spending with $550 billion of that figure going toward new investments and programs, such as the Green New Deal, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

“I do blame Democrats’ messaging, because if you ask people, ‘If you see a Republican ad on TV, what are they talking about?’ Maybe inflation, something about the economy,” Kaine said. “When they see a Democrat on TV, what Democrats talk about is access to abortions, a really important issue, but you often don’t see Dems really leaning into the economy. That’s why our first ad, which is up on TV, is an economy ad.”

Kaine said that his positions on the economy contrast sharply with those of Cao, his Republican opponent.

“He opposes the infrastructure bill, and he opposed the inflation Reduction Act, including all these clean energy investments,” Kaine said. “I mean, we’re going to have a vote on reauthorizing the infrastructure bill in 2026. I’ll vote, yes, he’d vote no. For those who care about infrastructure investments, like roads, rail, bridges, ports, broadband, you know, electric transmission, offshore wind, I’m going to keep these.”

At their only televised debate at Norfolk State University last week, the two candidates clashed over a variety of positions, including abortion rights.

While Kaine said that he has introduced legislation that would codify Roe v. Wade in order to statutorily protect women’s access to abortion, Cao accused his opponent of supporting “unlimited abortion” up to and including after birth.

“What he wants to do is take it out of the hands of voters,” Cao said at the debate. “I want to keep it back in the hands of voters because I don’t want a senator from California or a congressman from Idaho making decisions for Virginians.”

They don’t like abortion, but Kaine’s GOP challengers say they won’t seek a federal ban

Cao also said that Kaine has had a 99% failure rate in passing legislation, claiming that only three out of the 220 bills Kaine has introduced during his time in the Senate have been successful.

When Kaine challenged the accuracy of this claim, Cao responded with a remark that drew a reaction from the audience: “There are two truths in the world — never walk into a Target store wearing a red shirt, and never go against an Asian when it comes to math.”

Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said that although Virginia’s Senate race “isn’t even vaguely competitive,” Kaine has shown no fear of running tough races.

“His first for the city council in Richmond wasn’t easy. Same for lieutenant governor in 2001, and governor in 2005. Kaine’s first race for the Senate was against a former governor and senator — George Allen — who had barely been ousted in 2006. He won them all,” Sabato said.

Kaine’s contest against Cao is more like 2018, when Kaine defeated Corey Stewart, his Republican challenger, with 57-41% of the votes, Sabato added, “though 2024 isn’t as Democratic a year as 2018 was.”

Cao could only have a chance if he were running a “vigorous first-rate campaign” while Trump was winning Virginia, Sabato said.

“Neither precondition applies. Even Republicans complain that Cao hasn’t been seen enough on the trail. And despite a questionable poll or two, Trump isn’t winning Virginia.”

While Kaine could be considered lucky given these circumstances, in politics and other parts of life, “you still make your own luck to a great degree,” Sabato said. “Kaine is smart, hard-working, and reflects the state’s values and partisan lean. That’s why he’s on his way to a third term.”

Kaine also has a significant fundraising advantage, having raised almost $16 million for his reelection bid, as opposed to Cao, who has raised just a little over $3 million, according to data by the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit tracking candidates and campaign money in Virginia politics.

While Cao vowed at the NSU debate to certify the presidential election if Harris won on Nov. 5 — “If she won, then she won,” he said — Kaine warned the audience that his opponent had affirmed in a recent Virginia Constitutional Conservatives survey that if elected, he would sponsor legislation to release and seek compensation for the offenders jailed for their role in the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“I have experienced January 6th, I’ll never forget this, I’ll never forget,” Kaine told The Mercury.

“I never want it to be repeated, whether I’m in the Senate or not, it should never be repeated. But we certainly saw it, and we could see it again. I do not expect Donald Trump to lose this race and do anything other than raise hell. If we win, I still think he’ss going to raise hell and pretend that he won. So we have to be prepared for that.”

Kaine said that with the 250th anniversary of the United States around the corner, there is also a

forward looking aspect to the debate around the events of Jan. 6.

“Every generation has to carry the mantle of putting the torch of a functioning democracy in the hands of the next generation,” Kaine said. And by stepping aside, Biden had done just that, he added. “The president made a patriotic decision, and those of us who are in leadership positions now, we have to be able to put the torch of democracy in the hands of the next generation.”

Learn more about Virginia’s most-watched races this fall by reading The Mercury’s 2024 Voter Guide.

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