Republican Hung Cao and Democrat Tim Kaine met for a televised debate Wednesday night. It will likely be their only debate before Election Day.
On question after question, Republican Senate candidate Hung Cao responded by mentioning undocumented immigrants. Whether the question was about child care or housing or guns.
Here is part of his response to a question about an ongoing strike by longshoremen.
"If your family is struggling to put food on the table, are you better off today than you were four years ago. The answer across the board is no," Cao answered. "The only people who are better off today than they were four years ago are illegal aliens, criminals and senators like Senator Tim Kaine."
Senator Tim Kaine responded this way.
"Four years ago, we were in the middle of covid. Hundreds of thousands of people were dying. Businesses were closing," Kaine reminded. "You couldn't find toilet paper on the shelves, and we had a president trying to overturn the peaceful transfer of power."
As for the strike, Kaine said dock workers are entitled to better treatment, higher wages and more benefits.
Kaine also criticized Cao for wanting to abolish the United States Department of Education.
"They only pay for things like the teachers unions," Cao said of the DOE. "They are not really pushing what they need to be pushing for the states. Each state knows what they need to take care of for their own personal states."
"Leaving education to the states was what led to school segregation," Kaine responded quickly.
Wednesday night’s debate took place in Norfolk.
Polls have consistently shown Kaine ahead.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
