RICHMOND, Va. — On Monday, Carey Allen gave a factory tour to Republican Senate candidate Hung Cao and spoke about the importance of bringing manufacturing back to Virginia.
Allen is the field services manager for Open Plan Systems in Richmond, a factory that makes office furniture and employs 152 Virginians. Allen says pandemic shutdowns and rising shipping costs have been wake-up calls about the need to keep supplies and manufacturing jobs in the States instead of overseas.
“A lot of machinery that used to be here before NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement) is now over in China,” Allen says. “They came in, particularly in Virginia, and took most of our textile machines, took most of the woodworking machines.”
Both Cao and his Democratic opponent, Senator Tim Kaine, have made manufacturing a major focus of their campaigns for the U.S. Senate.
“We need men and women in the United States that are going to build America again,” Cao says. “That’s why I would love to have more technical vocational schools so we can make more plumbers, more electricians, and more pipe fitters.”
On Monday, Kaine met with supporters in Fredericksburg, where he touted manufacturing investments in recent legislation, including the Inflation Reduction Act.
He also spoke about three new manufacturing facilities in Chesapeake, Chesterfield, and Pulaski County.
“My economic philosophy as a mayor, as a governor, and now as a senator is to make, build, and grow,” Kaine says. “That we make it here, let’s build it here, let’s grow it here and I’m going to keep delivering those results.”
The latest Roanoke College poll shows Cao trailing the incumbent Kaine by nine points.
Cao has spent the last few days of the election campaigning in Williamsburg, Tangier Island, and in Salem on Saturday, where he attended a rally with former president Donald Trump.
Cao says Virginians are eager for change under new leadership.
“There was 5,000 people in the stadium but 15,000 people waiting outside just to see him,” Cao says of Trump.
Meanwhile, Kaine has been rallying supporters in Fredericksburg, Williamsburg, and Woodbridge. Kaine also made an appearance on Saturday Night Live over the weekend, along with Vice President Kamala Harris.
“My polls suggest we are in good shape, but I never take the polls for granted because polls can be wrong,” Kaine says.
CBS 6 Political Analyst Dr. Bob Holsworth says while Cao has an impressive military career and background story as a Vietnamese immigrant, with a larger budget and continued popularity, he predicts Kaine will coast into reelection.
“Tim Kaine has been a relatively popular Senator, he’s had the resources and almost all the polls showing that he’s even running ahead of Kamala Harris in the state,” Holsworth says. “So, I would be surprised if this race is not close to a double-digit victory by Kaine.”
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