Bert Mizusawa

Mizusawa graduated from Kecoughtan High School and earned a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1979; he says he graduated first in his class.[2][6] He later earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1989 and a master's degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and held two appointments as a MacArthur Fellow in International Security at Harvard's Belfer Center.[2]

Mizusawa served in the Army from 1979 to 2016 and retired as a major general; he describes 41 years of service, including four combat tours.[1][2] He was awarded a Silver Star in 1984 for service in Korea, where, according to Ballotpedia, he commanded the Joint Security Force Company at Panmunjom and led a Soviet defector to safety across the Military Demarcation Line.[2] His career roles include Deputy Under Secretary of the Army, senior advisor to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and work for the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he describes service as a professional staff member in the U.S. Senate.[1][2] He has also run his own contracting firm and law practice.[4]

Mizusawa ran for the Republican nomination in Virginia's 2nd Congressional District in 2010 and lost the primary.[2] In March 2016 he was named to Donald Trump's foreign policy advisory team, and he served on Trump's 2016-2017 presidential transition team.[2] In February 2018 he entered the Republican primary to challenge Sen. Tim Kaine, according to the Associated Press.[6] In 2026 he won the Republican primary for the Senate seat held by Mark Warner; the Associated Press called the race with him at just over 53,000 votes, 29% of those counted at the time, according to WJLA.[4] Mizusawa describes himself as a small business owner who shares seven children and four grandchildren with his wife Amy.[1][2] During the campaign, he said his campaign centered on national security, efficient defense spending and enforcing the law uniformly.[1][2][4] He received 38.4% of the vote to Mark Warner's 61.3%, according to unofficial results reported by NBC News.[3]