According to Decision Desk HQ, retired Navy Captain Hung Cao has won the Republican Senate primary in Virginia and will face Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) this November.
Cao, who received the endorsement of former President Trump in May, defeated a handful of Republican challengers in the Republican primary.
Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.), chairman of the Republican senators’ campaign team, said in a statement after Cao’s victory in the primary that Virginia was a “real chance of winning” with Cao as the candidate.
“Hung Cao graduated from the Naval Academy and served our country honorably for decades. In Washington, Hung will fight to secure our border, improve education and control prices,” Daines said.
Cao, a retired Navy captain, is a familiar face as he ran against Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District in 2022, but lost to the Democrat by more than 6 percentage points.
However, Cao’s fight for the seat against Kaine is a tough one, as the nonpartisan election expert Cook Political Report evaluates Kaine’s seat “solid democrat.”
At the same time, Cao is benefiting from polls in the state that have shown a closer duel between President Biden and Trump than expected. An average of polls in Virginia compiled by The Hill and Decision Desk HQ shows that Trump and Biden are tied with 44 percent approval.
Updated June 19 at 8:41 a.m. EDT
