Virginia
‘Podunk’: GOP hopeful for U.S. Senate denigrates small town paper rather than answering questions about Super PAC
Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Hung Cao again failed to address critical questions about spending by the Unleash America super PAC when asked by a conservative talk show host on Tuesday, May 21.
But he did continue his attacks on the story that prompted critiques from members of his own party.
Instead of explaining why the money raised by the super PAC did not go to Virginia Republican candidates for state office in 2023, Cao again called the report that prompted the allegations a “hit job” and referred to the Staunton News Leader, which reported the story, as a “podunk local newspaper” on an episode of the Alec Lace show Tuesday.
The story was published in USA Today as well as The News Leader. The reporter is part of the USA Today Network’s Elections team, covering Virginia elections for the network’s two commonwealth papers, The News Leader in Staunton and The Progress-Index in Petersburg. The story was published in nine other Gannett newspapers across the country.
Skipped out on a local candidate forum, misremembered dates and promises
Cao did not attend a Senate candidate forum last Friday morning, which took take place in Augusta County just outside of Staunton, home of the Staunton News Leader. Staunton is in the Shenandoah Valley, a reliably red part of the commonwealth for Republican legislators in both state and federal offices.
Cao repeated an earlier stated falsehood on the Alec Lace Show, that he was out of the super PAC by May of 2023. In fact, a memo from his Senate campaign legal counsel said that Cao resigned from the PAC on June 15, 2023.
Cao told Lace that he didn’t promise to donate money raised by Unleash America to Republican candidates in Virginia’s 2023 elections. Multiple recordings available online show Cao saying otherwise on conservative talk shows and in newspapers in early 2023.
Cao also told Lace that federal super PACs, such as Unleash America, cannot donate to state-level candidates. In fact, Virginia has no limits on campaign contributions.
A different interview, and a different story
When Cao launched Unleash America in February 2023, the super PAC had one stated goal: To get Republicans elected during Virginia’s 2023 statehouse contests to support Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s agenda, as reported by the Staunton News Leader and USA Today.
The PAC raised $103,489 in individual contributions from around the country, which Cao called a “minimal amount” in an earlier interview with John Fredericks, another conservative talkshow host. Cao’s principal U.S. Senate campaign committee, Hung Cao for Virginia, contributed $45,000 to the super PAC, for a total of $148,489 raised by Unleash America between January and December 2023.
After Republicans lost the House of Delegates in Virginia and failed to flip the Senate, analysis of Unleash America’s expenditures showed no support of any kind, in-kind or otherwise, for Virginia’s Republican candidates.
In that earlier interview with Fredericks, Cao said “a lot of the money was reimbursed.” However, according to Federal Election Commission filings, money raised by Unleash America was paid to people who worked on Cao’s failed 2022 Congressional campaign as well as his current bid for the U.S. Senate.
“Start up costs a lot, you have to have lawyers, you have to have compliance people, you have to have start up fees, so a lot of the money was moved over from the old campaign to keep it alive,” Cao told Fredericks, apparently referring to the cost to launch his bid for the U.S. Senate.
Where did the money go?
About $12,500 of the money donated to Unleash America was spent on legal fees, according to FEC filings.
Another $37,514 from the super PAC was paid to John Ryan O’Rourke. O’Rourke is Cao’s 2024 Senate campaign manager and was his campaign manager during his 2022 bid for Congress. In the same year that O’Rourke received payment from Unleash America, he also received $96,168 from Hung Cao for Virginia, Cao’s Senate campaign committee.
Another $22,867 of Unleash America’s money went to K2 & Co., a communications firm Cao had employed during his 2022 Congressional campaign and also during his 2024 Senate campaign. K2 & Co. was paid $15,000 by Cao’s Senate campaign on October 3, 2023.
The super PAC also paid $29,403 for list rentals, $18,576 for digital fundraising, $6,398 in meeting and lodging expenses as well as bank fees and $3,904 in earmark fees to WinRed, a fundraising arm of the Republican Party.
Federal Election Commission filings show that Unleash America did not contribute any of the $148,489 it raised to Virginia’s Republican candidates in 2023.
No. 8 Notre Dame moved to 9-1 on the season with a 35-14 victory over Virginia that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
Notre Dame didn’t play a complete game but was in control from the get-go and is two wins away from reaching the College Football Playoff and likely returning to its home field for a First Round playoff game.
Numbers can tell the story and that was again the case Saturday. Here are the numbers that stood out the most in Notre Dame’s eighth-straight victory.
Notre Dame vs. Virginia: 5 Forced Turnovers
The old saying is that if you win the turnover battle that you’ll win the game. Although that isn’t always true, it is a lot more often than it’s not. Notre Dame’s defense was truly dominant on Saturday (more on that later) but the most important thing it did was turn Virginia over. Notre Dame turned Virginia’s first four turnovers into the first 28 points of the game. That was extra important because…
Notre Dame vs. Virginia: 12 plays for 20 yards
After Chris Tyree muffed the opening kickoff for Virginia, Notre Dame scored a few plays later to take a 7-0 lead. As well as things went for Notre Dame by the time the game was over, the next four possessions that was not the case as the Irish went three-and-out on those possessions, totaling just 20 yards along the way and keeping Virginia in the game longer than necessary.
Notre Dame vs. Virginia: 3.6 Yards Per Play
While this game was competitive, Notre Dame’s defense played absolutely lights out. Virginia’s first 11 possessions consisted of 41 plays that went for 138 yards total and no points. That’s an average of just 3.6 yards per play and coupled with the forced turnovers, put things out of reach for Virginia before the teams hit the locker rooms for halftime.
Notre Dame vs. Virginia: 151 Yards and 14 Points Overturned
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) November 16, 2024
If I’ve seen it happen before then I don’t recall it but with the issue still somewhat in doubt and Notre Dame leading 14-0, the Irish opted to try and break the spirit of Virginia. With 4:23 left in the second quarter, Riley Leonard found Jayden Harrison for a would-be 78-yard touchdown pass, but it was called back due to an illegal hands to the face call on Pat Coogan. The call was accurate but just a handful of plays later, Notre Dame ran one of the most creative fake punts of all-time as Jordan Faison trotted 73-yards for an Irish score.
Except it too was called back, this one for a much more confusing rule, and Notre Dame again had a touchdown off the board and opted to punt the ball away.
Two long touchdowns called back within just plays of each other isn’t something that happens often.
Notre Dame vs. Virginia: 2 Wins Away
The story regarding Notre Dame football this fall is the unlikely run towards the College Football Playoff. It seemed like a given after winning at Texas A&M to start the year and then felt impossible after the Northern Illinois debacle. Reality is after again dominating an inferior opponent, Notre Dame is two very winnable games away from not just making the College Football Playoff but potentially earning a home game in it to boot.
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Virginia
College football live scores, games, updates: LSU at Florida, Missouri at South Carolina and more
We’ve hit the home stretch of the 2024 college football regular season.
There are just three weeks to go before conference championship week in the first week of December. Week 12 isn’t the most loaded slate, but it does feature two games between ranked opponents and games all over the country that have implications in conference title races.
Here’s what we’re watching close late on Saturday. (Scroll down to follow the action live.)
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET | TV: NBC | Line: Oregon -14 | Total: 52.5
Is this the toughest game remaining on the Ducks’ regular-season schedule? We won’t get into tiebreakers here, but if Oregon wins Saturday night it will likely play the winner of next week’s game between Indiana and Ohio State in the Big Ten title game. Wisconsin enters the game on a two-game losing streak.
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET | TV: ABC | Line: Georgia -10.5 | Total: 48.5
Vols QB Nico Iamaleava is reportedly set to play after going through the concussion protocol earlier in the week. Georgia is out of the College Football Playoff mix with a loss; the Vols’ visit on Saturday night gave the committee an easy out with its placement of the Bulldogs on Tuesday.
Time: 10:15 p.m. ET | TV: ESPN | Line: BYU -3 | Total: 56.5
Your eyes aren’t fooling you. The undefeated top-10 BYU Cougars are favored by just a field goal at home against a team that has a losing record. Overall, four of BYU’s nine wins have come by a single possession and Kansas just took down Iowa State in Week 11.
Live85 updates
Virginia
Where to watch Notre Dame vs. Virginia football streaming free today; TV channel, spread, game odds
The No. 8 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish face the Virginia Cavaliers in Week 12 of the 2024 college football season. This game kicks off at 12:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. CT) on Saturday, November 16 with a live broadcast on NBC, and streaming live on demand.
• WATCH: Wisconsin vs. Iowa football live for free with Fubo (free trial), or stream this game and more Big Ten football on the cheap with Peacock (costs $7.99/month, cancel anytime).
What TV channel is the Notre Dame vs. Virginia football game on?
When: Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. CT) on Saturday, November 16.
Where: Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, IN
TV Channel: NBC, and streaming on Peacock
How to watch streaming live: If you don’t have cable, you can still watch this game live for FREE with Fubo (free trial) or with DirecTV Stream (free trial). If you are out of free trials, the best way to watch this game on the cheap is by signing up for Peacock Premium (costs $7.99/month, cancel anytime) which will have several streaming-only games on the service this season. Here’s the complete Big Ten football on Peacock schedule.
If you already have a cable or satellite subscription already, you can watch the game on NBC Live by signing in with your provider information.
What TV channel is NBC on?
You can find out more about which channel NBC is on in your area by using the channel finders here: Comcast Xfinity, DIRECTV, Dish, Verizon Fios, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice.
Notre Dame vs. Virginia spread, betting odds
Point spread: ND: -23 | VIR: +23
Over/Under: 50.5
- Get promo codes, signup deals and free bets from our Oregon Betting News home page.
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