Republican Senate nominee Hung Cao wouldn’t commit to taking part in the scheduled July 20 Virginia Bar Association debate with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, leading the VBA to announce on Wednesday that it has decided to cancel the debate.
Maybe he didn’t want to have to make the drive from Northern Virginia to The Homestead.
“It is a shame Hung Cao is hiding from Virginians and refuses to attend the Virginia Bar Association debate on July 20th. Tim Kaine has participated in the VBA Debate in his gubernatorial and Senate campaigns and was looking forward to July 20,” Kaine campaign spokesperson Michael Beyer said in a statement released on Friday.
The Cao campaign has not commented publicly on what transpired with the VBA debate.
The bar association, in a statement, reported on its website that it was “unable to obtain a timely commitment to participate from the Cao campaign.”
This is par for the course for Cao, who skipped out on Republican Senate candidate forums in all corners of the state – Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and Southwest Virginia – back during the primary campaign.
The Kaine campaign hit back on Cao’s refusal to take questions in public settings in a campaign ad released last month, branding Cao an “elitist.”
“Hung Cao needs to explain to Virginians why he embraces a plan that would sunset Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security,” Beyer said, on behalf of the Kaine campaign. “Hung Cao needs to explain why he supports national legislation that could ban abortion and interfere with contraception and fertility treatments. Hung Cao needs to explain why he opposes efforts to lower prescription drug costs and why he’d vote to take health insurance away from hundreds of thousands of Virginians.
“Tim Kaine is glad to stand before Virginians and talk about what he’s doing to grow our economy, expand health care access while cutting prescription drug prices, and protect reproductive freedom,” Beyer said.
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Chris Graham
