Hung Cao’s bid for Navy secretary faces choppy waters post-USS Abraham Lincoln

President Trump’s official nomination of Hung Cao to be Navy secretary is already in jeopardy after Democratic senators indicated they won’t vote in favor of giving him the waiver needed to serve.

Cao, a Trump loyalist who has served as the acting head of the Navy since April and was officially nominated on Sept. 1, will need 60 votes in the Senate for a waiver given his previous stint in the service, where he retired as a captain in 2021. Federal law requires former military officers to wait seven to 10 years before they can take several top civilian roles at the Pentagon.

But Democrats told The Hill they have serious concerns with Cao’s track record while serving as the Navy’s top civilian, including the handling of the troubled USS Abraham Lincoln deployment, which stretched roughly nine months as it supported the U.S. war in Iran.

“Hung Cao has shown he has neither the ability nor the temperament to serve as Navy Secretary,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said in a statement to The Hill.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said beyond the logistical hurdles with getting Cao confirmed “due to the Trump administration’s botched nomination requiring a waiver,” she expects he will have to answer to what she called a “severe mishandling” of the Lincoln’s deployment to the Middle East that led to deteriorating mental health issues onboard.

She added that after speaking to Cao at a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, she has some outstanding questions regarding funding and workforce concerns at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, which is located in Maine but borders New Hampshire. The shipyard helps maintain the country’s nuclear-attack submarines.

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), said she has concerns about Cao’s “ability to preserve the integrity and safety of the Navy” as it faces “dire readiness concerns, depleted munitions stockpiles, and distractions from pacing challenges in the Indo-Pacific.”

“Our Navy needs steady, experienced leadership that will prioritize our national security and the safety of our servicemembers above all else,” Hirono said in a statement to The Hill. “Given Acting Secretary Cao’s lack of leadership in addressing the concerns raised regarding the extended deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln and his focus on advancing Secretary Hegseth’s ideological war on DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion], I have concerns about Mr. Cao’s ability to preserve the integrity and safety of the Navy.”

She added that she is looking to see if Cao “is prepared to uphold his oath to protect the Constitution and our country.”

Cao — who since April has been serving as acting Navy secretary since John Phelan unexpectedly left the role — spent 25 years in the service as a special operations officer with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. After he retired, he twice ran for office unsuccessfully in Virginia, one for a House seat in 2022 and then for a Senate seat in 2024.

In February 2025 Trump nominated Cao as undersecretary of the Navy. He was narrowly confirmed by the Senate in a 52-45 vote in October of that year.

It’s not unthinkable for a former service member to receive a waiver from Congress to serve at the Pentagon. Lawmakers granted one to retired Marine Corps Gen. Jim Mattis to become Defense secretary in Trump’s first term and one to retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin for the same position under former President Biden.

But Trump, who praised Cao as “a true WARRIOR” in announcing his nomination, has a difficult candidate in terms of his political baggage.

While running for Senate in 2024, Cao said the military needs “alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them, and ask for seconds.”

After Trump announced Cao’s nomination, Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) referred to those comments in a post to social media , saying, “This is not a serious person who should be leading our servicemembers, especially during a war.”

The acting secretary also came under intense scrutiny for his handling of the Lincoln deployment, which left its California home port in November 2025 and was beset by reports of poor living conditions and deteriorating mental health among sailors after the ship was sent to the Middle East in January.

Cao in August acknowledged the stresses being faced by the crew but insisted the U.S. military’s mission “demanded” the Lincoln’s deployment be extended past the initial end date in May, calling the media coverage of it “dishonest.”

Keeping Cao as the nominee also opens the Navy to more intense scrutiny amid numerous bipartisan concerns. Those include a strained Navy budget and fleet due to the Iran war; mounting mental health issues among service members; Trump’s intended “Golden Fleet” which will include new, heavily armed Navy ships named after himself; and the president’s recent directive to install old steam-powered technology on U.S. aircraft carriers, a costly endeavor.

Confirmation votes are generally just the purview of the Senate.

Cao’s need for a waiver from Congress also means the House will weigh in on the exemption with hearings and floor votes in both chambers.

Those votes, if they happen, are unlikely to take place until after the November midterm elections as the House and Senate are only in Washington for two more weeks before then.