Virginia is one of 33 states with a U.S. Senate seat up for grabs this November. Two-term incumbent Tim Kaine (D) faces a challenge from former navy Captain Hung Cao (R). In the lead-up to Election Day, C-VILLE reached out to both candidates via email.
C-VILLE: What are your top priorities if elected to the Senate?
Tim Kaine: The economy, affordable housing, and health care are issues I hear about all across Virginia.
I’ve proudly helped pass legislation to create good-paying manufacturing jobs, supercharge the green energy sector, and rebuild our infrastructure, but we must do more. Our American Rescue Plan ushered the strongest jobs recovery on record and expanded the child tax credit. … I’m working to bring that tax cut back and make it permanent. To grow our economy, we must also pass a comprehensive immigration reform package to both secure our border and enable companies to hire more skilled workers.
In 2017, I cast a deciding vote to preserve the Affordable Care Act, protecting the health care coverage of 1.3 million Virginians with pre-existing conditions. In 2022, I helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act to slash prescription drug costs. In the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, I have introduced the only bipartisan bill in Congress that would guarantee all women the freedom to make their own reproductive choices.
I have spent my entire career, including 17 years as a fair housing attorney, fighting for fair housing and working to lower housing costs in Virginia. My LIFT [Low-Income First-Time Homebuyers] Act would help first-time, first-generation homebuyers accelerate wealth-building through homeownership. We need to get this passed and signed into law.
Hung Cao: Securing our open border. In fact, everything that’s going wrong in our country right now stems from our wide-open southern border, and Virginians across the commonwealth know it. … Our wide-open southern border is a huge national security threat.
How does your platform align with and support the best interests of Virginians?
TK: My campaign motto is “Standing Up for Virginia” because my entire campaign is entirely about Virginia. … If I continue to have the great honor of serving my commonwealth, I’ll keep building on my work and keep listening to Virginians and what’s on their minds.
I want to continue lowering costs for Virginia families by cutting the cost of child care and slashing taxes for working families.
Communities across the country, but especially northern Virginia, are facing rising housing costs. I introduced the Fair Housing Improvement Act, which would protect veterans and low-income families from housing discrimination, the Low-Income First-Time Homebuyers Act, and am one of the lead sponsors of the bipartisan Housing Supply and Affordability Act. I support an expansion of the low-income housing tax credit, responsible for increasing the supply of affordable rental housing.
HC: We have to make the cost of living, goods, gas, and groceries more affordable. Under Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Tim Kaine’s radical agenda, Americans and Virginians are hurting from the increased cost of goods and prices, making the American dream no longer what it was when my family and I immigrated to this country. But we have to start with securing the border. That’s step one. … We need to put the American people and Virginians first and that begins with closing our border.
How do your policy positions differ from your opponent? How, if at all, do they overlap or intersect?
TK: Unlike my opponent, I trust Virginia women to make their own health care decisions. After the Supreme Court’s disastrous Dobbs decision, I got to work and introduced the only bipartisan bill in Congress that would codify the core holdings of Roe v. Wade and related Supreme Court cases to protect access to abortion and birth control.
I proudly helped pass legislation that is expanding high-speed internet, rebuilding roads and bridges, rail and public transit, ports and airports all over Virginia. I also worked to pass legislation that is bringing manufacturing back to America and easing supply chain issues. My opponent opposed all of these investments and the good-paying jobs they are bringing, and would vote against the reauthorization of our bipartisan infrastructure law in 2026.
… I believe health care is a right, which is why I’ve introduced a Medicare-X plan that which would give all Virginians access to a plan similar to Medicare. Furthermore, I will always fight to defend Social Security and Medicare and ensure that these programs are sustainable for generations to come.
HC: I am running for U.S. Senate to save the country that saved my life. I spent 25 years in Navy Special Operations with combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia, while Tim Kaine spent 30 years in elected office. … In the U.S. Senate, I will always put Virginia first and protect the commonwealth.
If elected to the Senate, will you certify election results regardless of party outcome if the election is deemed free and fair?
TK: Of course!
HC: Yes.
What, if any, concerns do you have with your opponent, his campaign, or his platform?
TK: My opponent has insulted and talked down to the Virginians that he hopes to represent in the U.S. Senate. … He has also continued to insult Virginians by failing to show up for them, when he skipped 12 of 13 candidate forums in his Republican primary election. My favorite part of my job is traveling and meeting Virginians in every corner of the commonwealth. If someone won’t show up for you, they won’t stand up for you.
HC: After 25 years serving our country in the Navy, I’ve been all over the world. I’ve seen communism first-hand and know what it’s like to lose your country. We’re losing ours today and trust me, there’s nowhere else to go. I’ve spent my life trying to repay my debt to America, and I’m not done fighting for us. Tim Kaine is a weak man in a dangerous world and along with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, he is destroying Virginia’s way of life.
This interview has been edited for length.