RICHMOND, VA – Today, Democratic Party of Virginia Chairwoman Susan Swecker issued the following statement in response to Hung Cao’s U.S. Senate campaign launch:

“Voters in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District already rejected Hung Cao in his bid for the U.S. House, and I can assure you he’s too extreme for the U.S. Senate. Cao opposes a woman’s right to make her own reproductive health care decisions, while championing the policies of dangerous right-wing conspiracy theorists, and promising to be a rubber stamp for the Republican Party’s most unpopular policies: repealing the Affordable Care Act and gutting Social Security and Medicare. Fortunately, Virginians already have a popular incumbent with an extensive record of protecting our economy, schools, democracy, health care, and reproductive freedom: Senator Tim Kaine.”

Cao jumps into a crowded field of Republicans jockeying to win over the GOP base. With at least nine Republicans vying for the nomination, including one who’s already been up on TV, this is promising to be a messy and brutal primary. As he prepares to challenge Senator Tim Kaine, here’s what you need to know about Hung Cao:

• Hung Cao is an anti-choice extremist. Cao said he was “thrilled” that Roe v. Wade was overturned and has compared abortion to the Holocaust.
• Hung Cao pledged to repeal the Affordable Care Act, gutting protections for 1.3 million Virginians with pre-existing conditions, and putting nearly 700,000 Virginians at risk of losing their health insurance.
• Hung Cao supported Sen. Rick Scott’s “Rescue America” plan, boasting that he personally reviewed the plan and called it “perfect.” The plan would put Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security on the chopping block and raise taxes on 35% of Virginia’s residents and 46% of its small businesses.
• Hung Cao is against common sense steps to reduce gun violence. Cao said “gun control has never stopped anyone” and bizarrely added that more people get “bludgeoned to death and stabbed to death, then they get shot.”
• Hung Cao peddled conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and wants to gut ballot access in Virginia. He opposes mail-in ballots and wants to curb early voting to just one day. 
• Hung Cao is a January 6th sympathizer. He said members of Congress should be “beating down the doors” demanding that imprisoned January 6th insurrectionists be set free, pledged to “release and seek compensation for” those arrested in connection to January 6th, and said he had “a lot of friends” who were investigated by the FBI for their activities on January 6th.
• Hung Cao denies climate change, calling it a “boogeyman” and saying he needs to see more data to be convinced that climate change is real.

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