BUCK: Right in the environs of D.C. is Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, and we have a fantastic candidate who’s running a very strong race there right now. Hung Cao is with us now. He is a retired Navy captain, served in special operations for 25 years. He’s also a refugee from Vietnam. He served alongside Special Forces and Navy SEAL teams, and he has a lot to talk to us about right now. Captain Cao, thanks for calling in. Appreciate you, sir.

CPT. CAO: No, thank you so much for having me. My wife’s a big fan of your show.

BUCK: Well, your wife has fabulous taste, obviously in spouses and in radio.

CLAY: Phenomenal radio taste.

Defending America is the greatest honor of my life. But we don’t do it for Republicans or Democrats, we fight for all Americans, and that’s what I’ll do in Congress.

I’m Hung Cao, and I’m your next Representative. #VA10 pic.twitter.com/Ew6OgwTSBA

— Hung Cao (@HungCaoCongress) October 4, 2022

BUCK: So, that’s excellent work. Tell us, sir, what is this district that you’re running in? What is this race coming down to between you and your opponent? Obviously, your resume is super impressive. Why are you going to get it done for the folks of Virginia’s 10th?

CPT. CAO: Well, first of all, Virginia’s 10th is really the crosscut of America. You’ve got the rural part out West. You have the high-tech part out in the east, because of 92% of the data centers run through here. You have the veterans. You also have 45% minority. Of those 45%, 25% are immigrants like myself. So, we are really the bellwether of this election, and also 2024 as well. And so, that’s what I’m representing. It’s Loudoun County, the infamous Loudoun County that attacked the parents — you know, the school boards that attacked the parents — and you have three other counties also that surround us as well.

CLAY: What are people caring about the most as you come down the closing stretch here? And we should mention, again, you’ve got an incredible bio, and I would imagine, maybe you could just share a quick snippet on your bio for our audience who may not be familiar with you to explain why it is that you decided to jump into the fray and run here.

CPT. CAO: Yes, that’s a great question, because no one should ever want to want to run for office. It’s an ugly, dirty job. And it’s never been my dream, honestly. I’ve never wanted to do this, but I feel like I have to do it. I mean, I came from Vietnam in 1975. My parents had to make the hard decision. My mom was literally sewing notes in in our clothes with a little money, saying, “This is my son. Please take care of him in case we get separated.” We came here and this amazing country gave us all the opportunity, and I went to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. It’s the number one high school in the country — or was, until the left destroyed it with their “equity” by really bringing down the number of Asian students there from 73 to (crosstalk)

CLAY: Let me ask you about that for a minute, too, because I think, obviously with the Supreme Court case that’s going on. You’re of an Asian background and an immigrant background. So many Asian people look to schooling, elite schooling — where Buck’s from in New York City, this has been a major battleground; Northern Virginia, Thomas Jefferson High School, as you mentioned, too. How much of an assault on the meritocracy drives Asian immigrants and Asian young families crazy like this when they’re trying to look for “equity” as opposed to the most skilled students?

CPT. CAO: That’s the problem. I mean, when I left Vietnam, my parents taught me that they can take away your money, they can take away your position in life, but they can never take away the knowledge that you know in your head. So, they push education really hard. But now that the left has taken that away from us by saying, “Well, there’s too many Asians in Thomas Jefferson, so we’re going to make sure other demographics are represented,” and it’s driving them crazy. You know, we’re Americans. We just want to be treated like everybody else.

BUCK: Absolutely. We’re speaking to Hung Cao right now. He is running in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, and what is the situation…? Give us the quick dossier on your opponent in this race. I’m wondering, are you getting somebody who is all of a sudden, “Oh, I don’t know who this Joe Biden guy is”? Are you getting someone who’s doubling down on “the insurrection”? You know, what are you up against?

CPT. CAO: Well, she’s doubling down on everything. I mean, she was the trailblazer when you when you talk about soft on crime. When she was the commonwealth attorney, she let two rapists go off with just months of like, 2 to 4 months of incarceration. And then, you know, as a state senator, she basically voted down all these bills that would have protected our children, and now she’s the co-chair of the Trans Task Force.

So, she’s paired up with this lady named Elizabeth Guzman, who introduced a bill which would criminalize parents if they did not “affirm” their children’s gender based on what the schools decided it was. So, this is the person I’m running against. And she’s been the rubberstamp. She’s voted 100% with Joe Biden, and she’s caused a lot of this inflation. And now we’re going into… We are in a recession. We’re about to go into the depression if we don’t change our ways very fast.

CLAY: I got a couple of questions that are tied here together. You’ve got five kids. So, first of all, running for Congress with five kids. We have a lot of moms and dads that are running out there. You’re in the 10th Congressional District in Virginia. It’s going to be close. With those five kids, how much are you hearing from other dads and moms still about the covid issues, the masking, and the connection that that has to every other major issue out there? We know how much of a motivating factor it was for Glenn Youngkin. How much is it still a motivating factor based on what you’re hearing?

CPT. CAO: Oh, absolutely. Parents just want their kids to be taught, right? I mean, the people that hurt the most during this whole covid were the special needs who needed the special-ed teachers to help them. And you know, as well as a lot of the minority, especially the Hispanic and blacks have been hurt the most in this covid. We saw the NEA report card from Virginia; it this was the largest drop in the nation for education. You know, the lowest ACT scores in 30 years, lowest reading comprehension since 1990.

We are hurting as a nation and we’re going to hurt having engineers and doctors and scientists in the future if we don’t fix this generation. But again, then they doubled down and they staged walkouts because they hate Glenn Youngkin’s new bill that basically puts all the power back into the parents’ hands. And they call it a “trans bill,” but it’s not a trans bill. It’s a bill that puts everything back in the hands of parents, which is where education and students — the interests of the students — belong, in the parent hands of the parents.

We want safe communities for our families to live, work, and learn. I am the only person in the race for #VA10 with the support of our law enforcement. We can’t afford a soft-on-crime candidate at a time of surging violent crime.

Vote #HungCaoForCongress for peace of mind. pic.twitter.com/d0dLmm5e6I

— Hung Cao (@HungCaoCongress) November 2, 2022

BUCK: We’re speaking to Captain Hung Cao, and we want to make sure that our audience, especially in your district and in your area, can help out. Where should they go, Captain Cao?

CPT. CAO: Sir, they should go to Hung4VA.com, and they can find out all about us. But you know, we got to get everybody out there. You got to go out and vote and get ten of your friends to vote because this is about our future and our children’s future.

CLAY: No doubt at all, and we appreciate the time. And again, tell your wife we appreciate the fact that she has phenomenal taste in radio.

CPT. CAO: (chuckling) No, thank you, gentlemen. Again, I fought and bled for this country, and I’m not going to stop now.

BUCK: Stay in the fight, sir. Thank you, Captain.

CPT. CAO: Yes, sir. Bye-bye.