BRISTOL, Virginia – Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin held a rally in support of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Hung Cao on Friday at Micheal Waltrip Brewing in Bristol.
Cao is running against incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Kaine.
During the rally, Cao, a retired U.S. Marine, told the story of how his family immigrated to the United States after the fall of South Vietnam in 1973 and stressed how proud he was to be an American.
“As an immigrant in this country, you should not ask for the American dream if you are not willing to obey American laws and embrace American culture, because that is what I have done,” Cao said. “I love this country so much. I wrote a blank check for life to defend this country, and that is how much you should love America.”
He said the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was the reason he first decided to enter politics and run for Congress in 2022.
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“Joe Biden stepped in there and let the whole country fall apart, and watching mothers hand over their babies to the Marines was just like what happened in Vietnam. And I was not going to let that happen to our country again,” Cao explained. “So I left the United States Navy and ran for the U.S. Congress in the 10th Congressional District.”
Cao also condemned the Biden administration’s handling of the border, its support for Ukraine and the US’s dependence on oil from other countries, while rejecting American coal.
“Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, millions of illegal immigrants are pouring across our borders. They are raising Hamas flags on our campuses and screaming death to America,” he said. “We must stop depending on the oil of these countries that hate us while banning clean American coal.”
“We must stop giving money to Ukraine and its pension plans while our Social Security is at risk,” Cao added. “We must put Americans first, and that is what we will do.”
Cao called Tim Kaine “Hillary Clinton’s financier” and questioned whether he was man enough to take the lead in dangerous times.
“I’m running against Hillary Clinton’s moneyman, right? The weather vane Tim Kaine, that’s what they call him,” Cao said. “Tim Kaine is a weak man in dangerous times. We’re tired of these beta males. We need men of action, men of God.”
In response to Cao’s comments, Michael Beyer, Kaine’s communications director, provided the following response.
“While Hung Cao stood on stage berating Senator Kaine, just as he berates communities like Staunton and Abingdon, Senator Kaine met with local officials and business leaders in Floyd County today to discuss how he has allocated funding for affordable housing, healthcare and workforce development,” Beyer said. “Senator Kaine is speaking to Virginians in every corner of the Commonwealth, with over 120 events since January, while Hung Cao continues to spout name-calling instead of talking about the issues. For example, he disparaged a local newspaper as a ‘backwater’ and even called Virginians who work at NATO ‘lazy.'”
In his comments at the rally, Youngkin reminded the 140 Cao supporters in the audience of the role Southwest Virginia and Bristol played in his election in 2021 and urged them to do so again.
“Here is our chance to expand our majority in the House, flip the Senate and restore strength to the White House,” Youngkin said. “One of the things you all proved in 2021 is that we know how to win.”
“73 percent of the vote in the city of Bristol, 79 percent of the vote in Washington County, that’s what we need to do,” Youngkin said. “That’s my challenge to do it again.”
Election Day is November 5. Early voting begins in Virginia on September 20.
