
Full Name: Hung Cao
Nick Names:
Office Sought: US Senate
Party Affiliation: Republican
Campaign Website:
https://www.hungforva.com/
Campaign POC:
Phone Number:
Campaign number TBD.
Campaign Email: press@hungforva.com
Structured Interview Request Sent: Initially completed 2022. Update requested.
Structured Interview Response and Date: Pending.
Vetting Panel Selected: Pending
Structured Interview Completed: Pending
Biography: Hung Cao arrived in the United States in 1975 as a refugee from Vietnam. He spent most of his youth in West Africa and returned to the United States in 1982. He was part of the inaugural graduating class of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, one of the top magnet schools in the nation. He entered the Navy in 1989 as a Seaman recruit and later graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science in Ocean Engineering. Hung also holds a Master of Science in Applied Physics from the Naval Postgraduate School and he is a Fellow with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar XXI for U.S. national security and foreign policy and a Fellow with Harvard’s Senior Executive Leadership Program.
Hung retired in October 2021 as Captain, dedicating 25 years in Navy Special Operations. As a Navy Deep Sea Diver, Hung conducted high profile salvage operations including the recovery of John F. Kennedy Jr. and the Civil War Ironclad USS MONITOR. He commanded the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center where he oversaw the training of more than 4000 special operations divers from all military branches. As a Navy Master Explosive Ordnance Technician, he commanded various teams that rendered safe IEDs on the battlefield and in the homeland, among them was the Combined Explosives Exploitation Cell in Iraq, a multi-national, multi-agency counter-Improvised Explosive Device team in identifying, capturing and prosecuting bomb-making cells. During his last combat deployment in 2020-2021 he was the Director of counter-Improvised Threats throughout Afghanistan.
During his staff tours, Hung was the Aide to the U.S. Sixth Fleet Commander / NATO Joint command Lisbon. He was on the Staff of the Chief of Naval Operations as a Requirements Officer responsible for outfitting the Anti-Terrorism and Force Protection (AT/FP) and Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear defense for the U.S. Fleet. On another tour with the Navy Staff, he programmed $15B of the Navy’s $140B annual budget for all munitions, science & technology, Expeditionary and Special Warfare. Hung’s final assignment was with Defense Threat Reduction Agency where he created and led the Operational Effects Division Division (J3X) for Sensitive Activities, Exploitation, Counter-Unmanned Systems, Joint Expeditionary Teams, and counter-messaging.
Hung joined CACI International as a Solutions Architect for the Advanced Solutions Sector. Hung serves the community where he lives. He is an Assistant Scout Master, mentoring more than twenty boys to the rank of Eagle Scout. He established and trained the Monterey County Sheriff’s bomb squad on his off-duty time while at Naval Postgraduate School. He created a non-profit organization, Audible Eggs using technology for IEDs to help visually impaired children. He is a Christian mentor with the Navigators and led mission trips around the world. Hung has been an advocate for non-medicinal approaches to healing traumatic brain injuries in wounded warriors. He is a keynote speaker for graduations and special events, a guest lecturer to colleges and universities and a motivational speaker to Fortune 500 companies. He created mentorship programs to develop leaders at various commands and he volunteered at JROTC programs in underprivileged high schools. He is currently on the board of advisors for a ETS Sponsorship Program, a veteran service organization. He has been married to his wife April for 23 year and they have five children. April is a volunteer EMT for Loudoun County.
Why you?
I am the most qualified:
– I wrote the Navy’s $140B budget
– I wrote DoD and DoS policies
– I know foreign relation (fluent in 3 languages and 50+ countries visited)
– I worked Homeland Security for 4 years, local and federal law enforcement
– I know National Defense
– As an immigrant, I am the best to fight illegal immigration
Bottom Line: I am the Winsome Sears and Jason Mijares that the left won’t see coming in the 10th district. I have bled for this Republic and the Constitution.
What are your priorities?
– CONSTITUTION: There is a 10th Amendment for a reason. I will keep everything at the State level.
– National defense: We need to protect our Republic, defend our borders, strengthen our military.
– Balance the budget: We need a balanced budget and stay within our means
Bottom line: Leave us alone! Let Americans be Americans and we will figure it all out.
Endorsements: Working on very crucial ones (national level, not local)
Education:
– Inaugural graduating Class of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
– US Naval Academy – BS Ocean Engineering
– Naval Postgraduate School – MS Physics
– Naval War College
– MIT Fellow
– Harvard Senior Executive Fellow
Relevant Employment History:
– Navy Special Operations (EOD / Diving & Salvage / Sensitive Activities)
– multiple 501(C)3s. CEO of 1
– Board of Advisors for Veteran Service Organization
Military Experience / Branch / Years of Service / Rank / Type of Discharge:
USN Navy 1989 – 2021 (with College in between)
Retired as Navy Captain (O-6) – Honorable
Past Offices Held and Tenure: None – I am a complete outsider
Community Service:
– Boys Scouts of America
– CEO Audible Eggs
– Christian Missions Trips
– Navigators
Leadership Experience:
– Boys Scouts of America
– CEO Audible Eggs
– Christian Missions Trips
– Navigators
Personal Strengths: I have endless energy.
What is the most important thing Virginians need to know about you?
– If I am willing to face death in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, what do you think I would do for the place where I live, where my wife works as an EMT, where my 5 kids go to church and where my friends own businesses?
– I am part of a coalition of SOF operators. I am not going in as 1 of 435, but as 10% of the Republican vote in the House with warriors who believe in the Constitution and this Republic.
How would your friends and family describe you? I am a leader of leaders. I will fight to the end for what I believe in.
What are your thoughts on the Constitution as the Law of the Land? This is what I swore to protect for 30 years.
What are your thoughts on religious liberty? I grew up in Africa and places around the world where religious liberty is not allowed. I am a proud Christian.
What are your thoughts on the preservation of our history? Our history, good or bad, is our history. This is why we have homeschooled our kids for the last 9 years so they know the whole truth.
What are your thought on government transparency? Government works for us. As any employee, I demand they are transparent to us.
What are your thoughts on national defense? America has never been attacked when it is strong, only when it is weak (like right now).
What are your thoughts on the free enterprise system? This is the greatest country in the world. We invented the light bulb, the automobile, the plane, the radio, the telephone. Industry will figure things out. Government just needs to stay out of the way.
What are your thoughts on the protection of the unborn? Life begins at conception. I defended ALL American lives for 30 years.
What are your thoughts on the role the family plays in America? The most important meal in my family is dinner when we all sit together. Family is the backbone of America.
What are your thoughts on equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity, as opposed to equal outcomes? America didn’t give me anything except the same opportunity as everyone else. I still need to work to achieve.
What are your thoughts on the 2nd Amendment? If you come for my guns, you will get 3 warning shots (2 to the chest, 1 to the head).
Virginia Constitutional Conservatives Candidate Survey 2022 – CANDIDATE WILL SUPPORT OR SPONSOR LEGISLATION PROTECTING THE 2ND AMENDMENT.
(https://virginiaconservatives.net/candidate-survey-2022#results_anchor)
Additional sources of information on this candidate:
Virginia Constitutional Conservatives Candidate Survey 2022 – CANDIDATE WILL SUPPORT OR SPONSOR LEGISLATION PROTECTING THE 2ND AMENDMENT. (https://virginiaconservatives.net/candidate-survey-2022#results_anchor)
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hungcaova/