I cast my early vote for Donald Trump and J.D. Vance Monday morning. Business was brisk at the Virginia polling station as it has been across the country. Virginia’s state elections are ‘off-year,’ so the big early turnout here is really about the interest generated in the presidential race—bolstered by the Senate candidacy of Captain Hung Cao (USN, Ret.)
Republicans are running six veterans for Senate this year, and they all have a chance to win. Cao, who was a Special Operations Officer (Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Deep Sea Diving), is closing on Senator Tim Kaine in Virginia as Trump momentum picks up in the Commonwealth, assisted by the non-stop efforts of popular Governor Glenn Youngkin. If Senate seats were selected on the basis of merit and diversity, Cao would be a shoo-in.
Indiana Congressman Jim Banks is a Navy veteran who did reserve duty in Afghanistan for a year while serving in Indiana’s state senate. Banks has all but been declared the winner but he is running through the tape.
Captain Sam Brown was medically retired from the U.S. Military as a Captain after graduating from West Point and being deployed to Afghanistan where he was grievously injured by an IED. The Purple Heart recipient is behind incumbent Democrat Jackie Rosen but Trump’s appeal in the Silver State may help Brown pull off an enormous upset.
