Republican candidate Hung Cao, running for the Virginia Senate seat currently held by Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine, is confident he can turn Virginia red from purple.
He's also doubling down on his controversial comments made during last week's debate about U.S. military personnel "who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds" in a bid against progressive social training in the military.
Cao, a 25-year Navy veteran endorsed by former President Trump, told Fox News Digital in an interview, "It's about warriors that are just going to do anything to win, and those are the people we need."
"And that's what I mean by rip out your own guts, eat them and ask for seconds. That's a true warrior, whether it's a alpha male or alpha female, but not some cross-dressing … drag queen," he said. "That's not what we need in the military. We need strong men and women that are willing to put their lives online to fight for this country."
During last week's debate against Kaine, Cao criticized the military’s collective failure to recently meet recruiting goals. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer than 30% of Americans aged 17 to 24 were eligible to serve in the military, and this number has declined even more since then.
"There's only so many hours in the day, and there's so much money. And when you're spending all your money and time to look at all these woke issues, you're taking away from time to train for war," Cao said.
When it comes to flipping Virginia's Senate seat, Cao is confident he can achieve it despite the Cook Political Report designating the seat as solid blue.
Cao argued that the Cook report is wrong, noting how he reduced Biden's 19% margin in Northern Virginia to 6% in 2022. He highlighted that despite Trump losing Virginia by 10 points in 2010, Republicans won all statewide races in 2021 and gained a seat in 2022. In 2023, more Republicans voted than Democrats despite Democrat gerrymandering efforts.
"And so, you know, having moved north Virginia the way I did, and if the south comes out, we're going to win this race," he said.
Trump has endorsed Cao, and political scientists say his path to victory is narrow, given Virginia’s moderate electorate, aversion to Trump in 2020 and Kaine’s salience with voters, according to the Associated Press.
Kaine won his last race in 2018 by 16 percentage points, although he said he was preparing for a tough race this year. The most recent Republican from Virginia to hold a Senate seat was the late John Warner, a centrist with an independent streak who last won in 2002.
Fox News' Daniel Wallace and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
