RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — From reproductive rights to the cost of living, and the economy, incumbent Democratic Senator Tim Kaine and Republican challenger Hung Cao went head-to-head in an hour-long debate at Norfolk State University on Oct. 2.
Kaine called out Cao for comparing “women and doctors who make the difficult choice to terminate a pregnancy to Nazis and bombmakers.”
Meanwhile, Cao blamed the Biden administration’s “obsession” with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for a decline in the number of people signing up for the military. Cao said, “When you are using a drag queen to recruit for the Navy. That’s not the people we want. What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them, and ask for seconds.”
However, despite the high-profile exchanges, Randolph-Macon Political Science Professor Rich Meagher says with both candidates sticking to their talking points on issues like abortion rights, the economy, and immigration, it’s unlikely the debate will have any effect on the outcome of the race. Recent polling from Emerson College showed Kaine with a ten-point lead.
“We end up at the end of this debate, exactly where we were before the debate,” Meagher told 8News. “I mean, I think it’s possible that Hung Cao is a little bit better known among Virginians, but I don’t think that any of them were likely to change their minds based on what they saw. Folks who were probably going to vote for him anyway, now are more likely to vote for him and folks who weren’t going to vote for him are confirmed in their decision not to vote for him.”
Click here to watch the full Virginia Senate Debate. You can also watch 8News political analysts break down the debate here.
