Video above shows a recap of the Virginia Senate debate
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Wednesday’s U.S. Senate debate between Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine and Republican challenger Hung Cao spilled over onto the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) with the hashtag #VASenateDebate.
The only planned televised debate between the two candidates was held at Norfolk State University Wednesday night.
Following the debate, Kaine, Cao and viewers took to social media to voice their thoughts on how the debate unfolded. Reactions from the event varied. Some lobbied in favor of continuing Kaine’s reign, while others said that Virginia needed a shift in leadership, making Cao the obvious choice.
The two candidates summarized remarks made on the debate stage on Wednesday night.
Cao quickly took to X after the debate ended, posting some highlights that incited a lot of audience reaction within the auditorium.
This included a statement that played on his Vietnamese heritage after he and Kaine disagreed on the percent success rate the senator had in passing legislative bills.
“There’s two truths in the world: Never walk into Target store wearing a red shirt and never go against an Asian when it comes to math,” Cao said, earning varying sounds of laughter and outrage from the audience.
While Kaine did get some reactions on X in response to posts about reproductive rights and voting against extremism, none of them came close to the reactions sparked by Cao’s remarks.
In the comments below WAVY’s post asking who won the debate, some said Kaine won, arguing he knows how government works. Meanwhile, many said Cao beat the senator, one saying he was more relatable to “regular people.”
Cao also reposted the WAVY poll on his own X account asking, “Who won the debate?”. At the time, it showed him at a slight lead of 51% – 49%. Following his promotion of the poll, the numbers poured in as Cao took an overwhelming lead on the poll.
As military recruitment numbers are down, Cao’s comment on how to shift marketing strategy made a jab at the use of drag queens, sparking more audience reaction.
“When you’re using a drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that’s not the people we need,” Cao said. “What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds.”
Kaine’s X account still showed engagement as supporters continued to comment with praise on his debate performance and government achievements. However, they didn’t invoke the same explosive reactions as Cao’s.
However, Kaine did get support from Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Don Scott and Rep. Bobby Scott from what they determined to be a “blowout” victory for Kaine.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.