Senate Confirms Hung Cao: Service, Salt, and a Clear GOP Win
The Senate moved forward this week and confirmed Hung Cao to be under secretary of the U.S. Navy by a 52-45 vote, a result Republicans view as a necessary step toward harder-edged, mission-focused leadership in the fleet. That achievement didn’t come easy — obstruction from Democrats and a lone GOP holdout made it messy, but leadership pushed confirmations anyway to fill critical civilian posts. Conservatives see Cao’s elevation as a win for veterans, common-sense standards, and accountability in uniformed services.
Nominated in February
President Trump tapped Cao in February, praising him as “the embodiment of the American Dream.” That line anchored a nomination built on a true story of refugee roots, long service, and an instinct for national defense rather than political theater.
“As a refugee to our Great Nation, Hung worked tirelessly to make proud the Country that gave his family a home,” the president said. “He went to our amazing United States Naval Academy, and later earned his Master’s Degree in Physics. Hung served in combat as a Special Operations Officer for twenty five years.”
“With Hung’s experience both in combat, and in the Pentagon, he will get the job done,” Trump added. Cao of that announcement at the time and added, “Thank you, Mr. President. It’s time to get to work.”
That blend of biography and battlefield experience is exactly what Republicans argued the Navy needs at senior civilian levels: people who understand war fighting, logistics, and the real costs of readiness. Cao’s supporters pointed out that his time working on Navy budget requests in the Pentagon gives him the practical knowledge to advocate for shipbuilding and operational priorities without squandering taxpayers’ money. Opponents framed his blunt rhetoric as disqualifying, but the GOP saw it as straight talk about standards and cohesion.
Refugee-turned-Navy veteran
Cao’s life reads like a classic immigrant success story that Republicans like to champion; his family legally immigrated to the United States as refugees from Vietnam in 1975, and he grew up determined to serve the country that took them in. Those early impressions of U.S. Marines at an embassy left a lifelong mark and helped steer him to the Naval Academy and a long career in service.
He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and spent 25 years in uniform, retiring as a captain after deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia where he served in special operations roles tied to explosive ordnance disposal and salvage diving. He also had assignments in the Pentagon working on the Navy’s annual budget, which gave him a dual perspective on both tactics in the field and the institutional plumbing that funds readiness and ships.
Thank you, Mr. President. It’s time to get to work. pic.twitter.com/6DfHr91aTK
— Hung Cao (@HungCao_VA) February 28, 2025
After leaving the military, Cao turned to politics, running for Congress in Virginia in 2022 and for U.S. Senate in 2024, but losing in both attempts to well-connected Democrats. Those campaigns sharpened his public persona and left a trail of heated comments that opponents seized on, while allies said they reflected an urgency most politicians lack. During a debate with Sen. Tim Kaine he caused a stir when he criticized a Navy recruiting piece and said bluntly, “When you’re 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. Those are young men and women that are going to win wars.”
That line is raw and confrontational, the sort of speech that courtrooms and cable news love to parse, but it also signals Cao’s priorities: readiness, combat effectiveness, and a return to traditional recruiting messages aimed at toughness and mission focus. He also pushed back hard against the Navy’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate under the prior administration, aligning with broader Republican criticism about mandating medical decisions and sidelining qualified service members. On border security and immigration he’s squared up with the administration’s push for strict enforcement and a tougher stance to stop illegal crossings and safeguard military recruitment pipelines.
Senate Democrats uniformly opposed the nomination, citing his rhetoric and some policy positions as disqualifiers, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski joined them in withholding support. Her explanation was terse but firm: “I was not comfortable offering my support based upon my review of his background and his qualifications.” That refusal forced a singular vote instead of grouping Cao with a larger slate under expedited rules, which briefly slowed the process.
Republicans argued the carve-out and the resistance were more political theater than principled review, saying the Navy needed someone with operational experience who knows the Pentagon budget and can translate that into platforms and readiness. They pointed to Cao’s combat record, decades of service, and Pentagon experience as exactly the kind of qualifications required for senior civilian oversight, and insisted political objections should not block competence from running the department.
Now confirmed, Cao moves into a role that touches personnel, budgets, and the culture of the naval service at a time when China’s military modernization and other global threats demand clearheaded stewardship. For Republicans who backed him, his confirmation is a signal that party leaders will keep pushing qualified veterans into rooms where decisions are made, and that blunt talk about standards will not automatically end a public career. Whether he can translate the nomination fanfare into measurable gains for fleet readiness and recruitment will be the real test, and one his supporters say he’s ready to meet with military discipline rather than political platitudes.
