Hung Cao

Cao was born in 1971 in Saigon, South Vietnam. His father, Quan Cao, from Quảng Trị province, worked in South Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and was assistant to the deputy prime minister. Quan Cao had been an international student in the Philippines having been granted a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation, before earning a Ph.D. at Cornell University. In 1975, at age 4, Hung Cao went to the United States with his family as refugees. Cao spent some of his childhood living in Niger, where his father served as an agricultural specialist for USAID. He returned to the U.S. at age 12 and was a student of the first graduating class of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia. Cao entered the U.S. Navy as a seaman recruit in 1989 and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in ocean engineering. A specialist in ordnance disposal and salvage diving, he led the Navy team on the that recovered the bodies of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette after their 1999 crash off Martha's Vineyard. In 2008, he received a Master's of Science in Applied Physics at the Naval Postgraduate School. As an explosive ordnance disposal/diving specialist with the Navy, Cao and his family relocated multiple times for assignments. During his final major operational tour in the Navy, Cao lived near the Naval Support Activity Panama City (September 2013 to June 2016) while he served as Commanding Officer of the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center there. He was then moved to a Pentagon assignment in Washington, D.C. Cao spent over 30 years on active duty in the Navy, retiring as a captain in October 2021. His military career encompassed operational deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. Cao earned the Command Ashore Badge, the Navy Diving Officer Badge and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Warfare Officers Badge. Cao was a vice president of CACI, a U.S. government contractor that provides services to defense, intelligence, and homeland security agencies. == Congressional elections ==

2022 house bid Cao was a candidate in the 2022 election for Virginia's 10th district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He cited the Biden administration's 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan as a reason he entered politics. He was one of 11 candidates in the May 21 ranked-choice Republican primary. He won the election by about 2,800 votes over his nearest opponent, earning him a spot in the general election against incumbent Democrat Jennifer Wexton, who was seeking a third term. During a debate with Wexton, he expressed support for the deregulation of government across nearly all facets of life. During the course of the campaign, Wexton sought to portray Hung Cao as "extreme" in comparison to the political demographics of the district, emphasizing his anti-abortion and pro-gun rights stances. Cao lost the election to Wexton 53% to 47%. On June 18, 2024, Cao won the Republican primary by a wide margin, receiving 61.8% of the vote in a five-candidate race. During his Senate campaign in 2023, Cao said "witchcraft" had taken over Monterey, California and he did not want that to happen to Virginia. In the same interview, Cao also said "I'm African American because I grew up in Africa, too," referring to a few years spent in Niger as a child. On June 24, USA Today reported that Cao had claimed in campaign appearances that "I'm 100% disabled, you know, because just from being blown up in combat many times." But he had not received either the Purple Heart or the Navy's Combat Action Ribbon, both of which would normally have been awarded to someone injured by enemy action. Cao declined the newspaper's request for clarification about his injuries. He advanced to the November 5 general election, facing incumbent senator Tim Kaine. Kaine defeated Cao 54% to 45%. ==Under Secretary of the Navy==

On February 28, 2025, President Donald Trump nominated Cao to be Under Secretary of the Navy, the navy's number two position, which requires Senate confirmation. On October 1, 2025, Cao was confirmed by the Senate in a 52–45 vote (with three abstaining). Every Republican senator, with the exception of Lisa Murkowski, voted to confirm him, while every Democratic senator opposed his nomination, with the exception of Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Brian Schatz, who were not present. On October 3, 2025, Cao was sworn in as Under Secretary of the Navy. As the undersecretary of the navy, Cao was reportedly often excluded from the decision-making process by Phelan and was not permitted to represent him in meetings he did not attend. ==Acting Secretary of the Navy (2026–present)==

On April 22, 2026, Cao became the acting United States Secretary of the Navy after the departure of John Phelan. == Personal life ==

Cao and his wife April Lakata Cao have two sons and three daughters, one adopted from Thailand and a pair of twins, all of whom were homeschooled by April. The Caos live in Purcellville, Virginia, == Military awards ==

Cao's decorations, awards, and badges include: == Electoral history ==

2022 } 7,729 | 52.3% |- |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" | | 4,373 | 28.9% | 4,382 | 30% | 4,390 | 29% | 4,433 | 29.3% | 4,503 | 29.8% | 4,564 | 30.4% | 4,693 | 31.2% | 4,800 | 32.3% | 5,000 | 33.8% |- |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" | | 1,538 | 10.2% | 1,551 | 10.2% | 1,555 | 10.3% | 1,588 | 10.5% | 1,612 | 10.7% | 1,614 | 10.7% | 1,733 | 11.5% | 1,854 | 12.5% | 2,052 | 13.9% |- |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" | | 719 | 4.7% | 721 | 4.8% | 724 | 4.8% | 739 | 4.9% | 764 | 5.1% | 794 | 6.3% | 876 | 5.8% | 979 | 6.6% ! colspan=2 style="text-align:center;" |- |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" | | 621 | 4.1% | 623 | 4.1% | 627 | 4.1% | 646 | 4.3% | 678 | 4.5% | 707 | 4.7% | 727 | 4.8% ! colspan=4 style="text-align:center;" |- |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" | | 612 | 4% | 614 | 4.1% | 619 | 4.1% | 628 | 4.2% | 641 | 4.2% | 676 | 4.5% ! colspan=6 style="text-align:center;" |- |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" | | 308 | 2% | 308 | 2% | 312 | 2.1% | 328 | 2.2% | 333 | 2.2% ! colspan=8 style="text-align:center;" |- |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" | | 259 | 1.7% | 262 | 1.7% | 276 | 1.8% | 285 | 1.9% ! colspan=10 style="text-align:center;" |- |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" | | 232 | 1.5% | 232 | 1.5% | 237 | 1.6% ! colspan=12 style="text-align:center;" |- |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" | | 64 | 0.4% | 66 | 0.4% ! colspan=14 style="text-align:center;" |- |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" | | 56 | 0.4% ! colspan=16 style="text-align:center;" |} 2024 {{Election box winning candidate with party link no change == References ==