President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, September 1, that he is nominating Hung Cao to become the next US Navy secretary.
“I am pleased to nominate a true WARRIOR, Hung Cao, to become the next Secretary of the Navy. We need Patriots like Hung leading our Navy and Marine Corps, and I can think of no one better than him to make sure our Great Navy and Marine Corps remain the FIERCEST and BEST Force the World has ever seen. The Senate needs to confirm this Warfighter, ASAP, so he can continue the fantastic work he has been doing over the past 4 months. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he wrote on Truth Social.
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Cao has been serving as the acting United States secretary of the navy since April 2026 and as the 35th United States Under Secretary of the Navy from October 2025. He ran as the Republican nominee for Virginia’s 10th congressional district in 2022 and for the U.S. Senate in 2024.
Hung Cao’s net worth and family
Cao’s reported net worth is estimated to be between $366,000 and $865,000 based on government financial disclosures.
Cao is married to April Lakata Cao, and the two have two sons and three daughters – one adopted from Thailand and a pair of twins, all of them homeschooled by April. The family lives in Purcellville, Virginia and attends Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia.
Cao praised his wife as his “best friend” and a “wonderful Mom” in an old social media post.
“My bride and best friend of 23 years is also the mother of our five children. Calling her anything besides “Mother” (i.e. birthing person) is insulting and would negate the fact that she is a wonderful Mom to our second child who was adopted. Because of our 13 moves across the US and the world, she has put her career to the side to raise and homeschool our kids. Despite these challenges, she serves our community as an EMT for our community, and she is a published writer and author,” he wrote, sharing a photo of his wife and children.
Cao’s father is Quan Cao, who worked in South Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and as an assistant to the deputy prime minister. His mother is an immigrant and former refugee who fled Vietnam with her family after the fall of Saigon in 1975. She came into focus when Cao, then a U.S. Senate candidate, accompanied her to a senior living facility in Virginia to cast her vote.
