PAC scandal overshadows his campaign; Republicans better off with another nominee
Although Hung Cao did not run a great campaign for U.S. House 10th district, which he lost in 2022, when the distinguished Navy captain veteran and Vietnamese refuge announced last July for U.S. Senate, I felt he was the best candidate.
And then in April came the Staunton News Leader expose about the “Unleash America PAC” that Cao chaired in 2023, ostensibly to help GOP candidates for General Assembly in 2023.
“We need to get leaders in the Virginia House of Delegates and the State Senate that believe in our values,” he told Richmond talk radio host John Reid on a Feb. 2, 2023 broadcast, in promoting the PAC.
But as it turned out, according to federal financial reports, not one dime of the $103,000 the PAC raised was donated to any specific candidate last year – an election we lost by a hair.
Not that I would have deserved any of it in my failed race for State senate – a 30-plus Blue district – but some other worthy candidates might have benefited.
Instead, the bulk of the money raised — $68,639 — went to consulting fees, about $38,000 of which went into the pocket of Cao’s 2022 campaign manager and close adviser John (J.R.) O’Rourke, who also is running his 2024 campaign.
I was peeved. Many of us who were in the trenches in the 2023 campaign felt consultants to the Governor’s Spirit of Virginia PAC and to the House and senate candidates walked off with millions and left us with a bare Democrat majority – which if we don’t turn around in the House races next year and Governor’s race, will doom Virginia to being a failing Blue state for years to come.
I also was disappointed because I was peripherally involved in Cao’s 2022 House campaign and heard constant grumblings about O’Rourke’s bad decisions.
But J.R. became Cao’s little buddy – not unusual for candidates to develop these symbiotic relationships with their campaign managers, but also not very healthy.
My guess is Cao and O’Rourke formed “Unleash America PAC” to keep J.R. gainfully employed in 2023 in anticipation of the 2024 Senate run. According to finance reports, O’Rourke has been paid $7,200 a month to be the campaign manager.
And now, the latest scandal – Cao is ducking debates with his opponents, probably because he’s afraid of getting questions about this PAC scandal – to which Cao has not really responded to well
Cao did show for an April debate in Ashburn sponsored by the Loudoun County Republican Committee, but no questions were taken from the audience nor his opponents about the PAC.
He avoided two debates in Fairfax County in recent weeks, one sponsored by the 11th District GOP, which was “sold out.”
I get incensed when candidates don’t show for debates. I feel President Trump should have debated his primary opponents, but never did. In my State Senate campaign in 2023, my Democrat opponent, Saddam Salim, ducked at least two chances to be with me on stage. I called him and other Democrat candidates out for failing to show up to one debate sponsored by a non partisan citizens association.
And he is avoiding contact with Republican activists.
Cao reportedly paid $7,500 for the privilege to speak to the RPV State Convention in Hampton Saturday. Delegates I spoke with said he got a “lukewarm reception” and only engaged with people “as he was heading out.” In contrast, all the other candidates, except Jonathan Emord, who did not attend, were actively mingling with the grass roots.
Recently, Cao did not show up in person in Abingdon. telling the local GOP Unit: “I’ll sit here [behind the camera] all night if you want to, but for me to drive six and a half hours down to Abingdon or something like that and to stand there with four other dudes and to have 30 seconds to answer questions, it’s just ridonkulous, it’s just crazy,” Cardinal News reported
Cao lives in Purcellville, and yes, Abingdon is a six- to seven-hour drive – but when you represent the whole state in the Senate, you have to be prepared to visit the WHOLE STATE. The Pittsylvania County GOP unit also reports Cao has not even showed there while his four other opponents have.
Cao’s attitude is in stark contrast to the image of a Vietnamese refugee, who fled the communist takeover in 1975 with his family, was among the first graduates of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, the Naval Academy, and served with Special Operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. He homeschools his five kids and attends an excellent evangelical church in Leesburg, too.
My new nickname for him is “Hung Cowed,” because he obviously has been cowed by this scandal to avoid debates and contact with grass roots Republicans.
Fellow TBE contributor Bradley Driskill writes here “He also displays the attitude that he is ‘too good’ to debate with his fellow opponents and he has yet to still answer to why the money from his PAC was never seen nor received by the candidates it was suppose to benefit!”
Hung Cowed is clearly not the best choice for Republicans – although he has Donald Trump’s endorsement and raised the most of all GOP candidates – about $2 million as of March 31.
I’ll vote for the GOP nominee this fall, Cao included, but he is not the best candidate to face entrenched Democrat incumbent Tim Kaine.
I would urge voters to consider Eddie Garcia to be our nominee.
Eddie is a solid conservative, a small-business owner and Army veteran who served 22 years in the military, including six combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I also think Eddie can appeal best to Latino voters, who are voting GOP more in recent years, and we have not (in my research) nominated a Latino for U.S. Senate or House in Virginia.
Early voting for the June 18 primary has begun. Visit: https://www.eddiegarciava.com/
5 comments
Ken Reid is a tremendous resource for our Commonwealth. I support Jonathan Emord. I am cordial to Eddy Garcia and his people and helped him arrange a giant pizza party Saturday night in Sterling. I bleed for Republicans like Morton Blackwell, breaking my wrist last Saturday.
Respectfully, I disagree with the esteemed and authoritative Hon. Reid. Hung Cao did not do anything improper. I have been familiar with FEC regulations since forming CollegeStudents for Reagan, the first independent expenditure pac, in early 1975 following the Buckley Valeo Supreme Court decision. FEC rules require disclosures, frequent reporting etc.
The facts that Hung Cao ran for Congress, formed a 2nd pac and then decided to run for U.S. Senate is not illegal. He filed disclosures and paying staff or consultants is not corrupt or a crime. I have been paying brilliant consultants for 24 years at top dollar. I don’t know Hung Cao’s consultant or do not understand how attacking him as overpaid is logical. I prefer to do my own work directly all my life and also pay consultants to get other tasks done. The fact that Cao received Donald Trump’s endorsement and has raised the most money seems a good referral for Hung Cao’s consultant in the real world.
Now, if you have made thousands of calls or walked thousands of doors without the aide of a consultant then you know how Hung Cao or any candidate is doing with Republican leaning voters for the primary June 18. I just finished months of calling Republican convention delegates across four Congressional districts– as a volunteer for Morton Blackwell and Patti Lyman. Republican leaders are all split on their choices so being harsh or falsely fabricating allegations against the front runner is not productive.
Regarding Hung Cao’s political tactics. Calling him a coward is insulting of course. I heard Garcia using worse language. Being nasty to the front runner and accusing Hung Cao of corruption over routine public disclosures seems to be a mistake and misdirection. The Federal Election Commission requires you to show you paid your bills so if you sign on to the Joe Biden school of politics, all consultants helping Republicans need to be sued and jailed. This type of attack seems a betrayal of immense proportions to me. I still support Jonathan Emord but my patience with moronic hyperbole about paying the same consultant from three separate campaign accounts over a completely transparent span of time is a liberal tactic not a conservative method.
It is not a crime to fail to win a Congressional race. Not a crime to attempt to raise money for statewide candidates. It is clear that Hung Cao resigned his association with the second pac Unleash America more than a year ago according to posted published accounts. He has raised over $2 million since for his run for Senate. None of this is illegal unless you are writing copy for Democratic party consultants. Thanks.
A comment from Carole de Triquet:
Ken,
Thank you for your well-written and thoughtful editorial which identifies the true issue in this primary. We need a candidate who can win! While Hung Cao has the lead in some areas, he has shot himself in the foot so many times that he has damaged himself to the point of no return. His missteps are already fodder for Blue Virginia and will continue to haunt him if he becomes the nominee. While I hate to see any Republican in this position, we cannot afford to have this to spill over into the General Election.
I believe that Eddie Garcia is the only candidate who can beat Tim Kaine–regardless of money raised! We all know that Kaine will double, triple, quadruple… whatever any Republican brings in. So, we have to challenge Kaine in other ways. And Eddie has been doing exactly that for over 16 months!
Eddie has been traveling the Commonwealth and has visited localities in every corner of Virginia–some of them multiple times. He goes into communities where Republicans seldom go and has earned the respect of young voters, Hispanic and other minorities, and, of course, veterans. He takes this campaign seriously and has said that beating Tim Kaine IS his job right now! There is nobody who has worked any harder and won more hearts and sincere support!
Eddie also has the best and most impressive ground game of any other candidate in this race! His volunteers are dedicated and hard working with a bare minimum of reliance on paid staff. No paid door knockers. No paid phone solicitations. Oh–and no paid operatives to get signatures on petitions…. How many other candidates can say that? Eddie’s campaign is grassroots at its finest.
When Eddie stands on the stage next to Tim Kaine, the contrast will be striking! Eddie is young and energetic. Tim Kaine is not. Eddie is a highly decorated veteran. Tim Kaine is not. Most importantly, Eddie shares our values. Tim Kaine does not.
I urge anyone who has not yet voted to vote for Eddie Garcia–the hardest working, most likable, most honorable candidate in this race!
Carole de Triquet
Over in VA07, there are both Democratic and Republican primaries going on right now, with the winner of each vying for the seat currently held by Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) this November. To see a list of all the candidates, click here.
On the Republican side, given his fundraising lead as well as his numerous endorsements, it appears that the frontrunner is Derrick Anderson. What do we know about Anderson? Mostly, that he has right-wing stances on the issues (e.g., he’s virulently anti-immigration); that he thinks the NY trial of Donald Trump – which found Trump guilty on ALL COUNTS – was “ridiculous“; that he thinks “investigations into the January 6th Insurrection are a ‘cover-up‘” (that belief alone should automatically disqualify Anderson from holding any public office – ever); that he’s vowed to “Stand with President Trump to Take on Far-Left Liberals and the Swamp“; etc. So yeah…if this guy were to win, god forbid, this November, it would represent a MASSIVE downgrade from Rep. Abigail Spanberger, and would be really bad in general.
So given the above information, you’re probably not surprised to know that Anderson recently put out an ad with Greene County Sheriff Steve Smith, promoting Smith as someone who could (supposedly) “keep our families safe.” Yeah, sure…except that Smith has a *myriad* of “issues,” including: defending a school resource officer who handcuffed a 4 year old; overseeing deputies who were caught trying to solicit minors online; pushing “seminars” that promoted an Islamophobic extremist who doesn’t believe Muslims deserved 1st amendment rights; hiring a friend who, in 2002, had received three felony convictions for altering or forging vehicle titles in what prosecutors referred to as a resale “scheme” (Smith had testified in his friend’s 2002 trial that he had been transferred the title of two cars his friend had bought and Smith resold them for a higher price. Smith defended his friend and claimed he “wasn’t trying to scam anybody”); etc.
And yet this is the type of person is someone Derrick Anderson features in one of his ads? At the minimum, that’s revealing about where Anderson’s coming from and how he thinks. Combined with Anderson’s hard-right, pro-Trump views, VA07 voters shouldn’t even CONSIDER supporting him this November over whoever Democrats end up nominating…
I love Eddie! He campains very hard!
Hung Cao said he doesn’t want to come to podunk areas! His words not mine and that is a BIG turn off. I was a delegate in Hampton this passed weekend and when he spoke he read every word at least before I got up and left. If you can’t do a majority of your speech without reading it, it is not in your heart and I don’t believe a word of it! Several people walked out when he spoke!
Hung Cao has gotten most of his money from California and Northern Virginia. That tells me ALL I need to know about him!
Ken,
I share your opinion about Hung Cao’s candidacy. He also spent more than $800,000 to pay for signatures to get on the ballot. This does not show any statewide basis of volunteer support the 4 others have.
However, as personable as Eddie Garcia is, his April 15 FEC report showed only 16,000 on hand. Likely he owed half of that out to staff. No money for TV or mail as Scott Parkinson & Hung Cao.
My personal pick is Scott Parkinson. Also personable and able to raise money. Formerly with the Club for Growth, he will have their resources behind him others will not have. I know him to be smart, a hard worker and makes that daily commitment to fundraising that successful candidates have to do.
A second choice for me would be Jonathan Emord. He is an impressive man and seems to have an enthusiastic base of support. Beating the FDA in court many times over 38 years to stop their overreach is remarkable.
And yes, I will be supporting whoever our nominee is. At least we have a bench and choices. The Democrats certainly don’t….just The Eyebrow.