Cao, a Vietnamese refugee who went on to serve 25 years as a commissioned Navy officer, leveraged a personal story that many voters said they found compelling as he maximized outreach in minority communities and hit on some of the same themes — such as fighting “indoctrination” in education — that carried Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) to victory last year. About 44 percent of the voting-age people in the district are minorities, including 17 percent who are Asian American.
“We came to this country with nothing,” Cao said in an interview Sunday. “We clawed our way up and we made it work, and we harnessed all the opportunities this country gave us, and we didn’t take any handouts. That resonates with all the people in this district, especially all the immigrants and minorities. And all hard-working Americans, not just minorities.”
In a party-run firehouse primary that employed ranked-choice voting, Cao came away with roughly 53 percent of the vote to Lawson’s roughly 34 percent. About 15,000 Republicans voted.
Cao’s victory sets up an intriguing matchup between a political novice with clear grass-roots appeal in conservative circles and Wexton, a former Loudoun County prosecutor and state senator who flipped the district blue in 2018 by a double-digit margin. Cao’s nomination aligns with the Virginia GOP’s push to elevate more diverse slates of candidates to expand the party tent — such as Attorney General Jason S. Miyares and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears — and that could end up as an asset for Republicans in what will be a difficult attempt to oust Wexton in the blue district.
Although President Biden won the 10th as its drawn now by 18 percentage points in 2020, Republicans grew hopeful that flipping the seat red could be within reach after Youngkin made considerable headway in the district in his gubernatorial race, losing the redistricted 10th by less than two points. His success encouraged national Republicans to target Wexton, one of three Virginia congresswomen they hope to take down in a midterm election year expected to be a referendum on Democratic power. Millions of dollars probably will be poured into ads and voter outreach in the coming months by outside groups and the two campaigns.
But as Cao’s win illustrated, money isn’t always everything — even in a region such as Northern Virginia, one of the most expensive media markets in the nation where candidates must jockey for attention to get their message to voters. And as he prepares to take on Wexton, Cao argued that his win proved political experience isn’t everything, either: “Look at yesterday’s primaries: They didn’t want a political veteran; they wanted a fresh voice,” he said Sunday.
Lawson had raised more than $920,000 — more than twice what Cao raised — and had high-profile backing from Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), the third-ranking Republican in the House, and several other prominent right-wing activists.
Lawson had framed herself as a premier fighter against “woke” racial equity policies. But Lawson also faced some attacks from the right wing over a vote she took in 2020 — a unanimous bipartisan vote — to “develop a framework for becoming a more inclusive and equitable Prince William County.”
David Ramadan, a former…
Read More: Navy veteran Hung Cao wins GOP nomination in Virginia’s 10th District
