PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — By now, you likely know the names of the two candidates running for one of Virginia’s two U.S. Senate seats this year: Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine and Republican challenger Hung Cao.
Before they debate the issues Wednesday night live from Norfolk State University, here is more on their background.
Let’s start with something they both have in common. Both weren’t born in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Kaine, 66, was born in St. Paul, Minn. He moved to his wife’s hometown of Richmond 40 years ago.
Cao, 53, was born in Vietnam and arrived in the United States in 1975 as a refugee.
Kaine was a lawyer who first was elected to Richmond City Council in 1994. He served as Richmond mayor until 2001, when he was elected Virginia’s lieutenant governor.
He would ascend to the governor’s mansion four years later, serving as Virginia’s 70th governor.
After leaving elected office for two years, he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012, was re-elected in 2018 and is now running for his third term.
Cao, meanwhile, has never served in elected office before, although he did run unsuccessfully for Congress two years ago.
He served in the U.S. Navy as a special operations officer doing tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.
Why is he running for the U.S. Senate?
“Watching it fall apart right now, that’s why I felt that the fight is here within our country,” Cao said, “because they’re destroying this country and turning it into what I ran away from.”
Current polls have Kaine with a 10 point lead over Cao, but as we’ve seen this year, debates can change things.
The live debate between Kaine and Cao begins at 7 p.m. at Norfolk State University. The event will be available on broadcast and digital platforms, including WAVY-TV 10 in Hampton Roads, and NewsNation will carry the debate nationwide.