About

Tim Kaine is an American attorney and politician currently serving as United States Senator for Virginia. In 2016, Kaine was chosen as the running mate of Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in the United States presidential election.

History

Kaine was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, raised in Overland Park, Kansas, graduated from the University of Missouri, and earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in Massachussetts before becoming a professor at University of Richmond School of Law in Virginia.^[1] He was elected Mayor of Richmond in 1998, and served in that position until 2001, when he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Virginia.

In 2005, he was elected Governor of Virginia. Among his successes were keeping Virginia running through the 2007-2008 national economic crisis, fulfilling a campaign promise to protect Virginia land from development, and became one of the first southern governors to ban smoking in restaurants and bars.

His successes helped which helped move him to the national stage of American politics. In 2006, he gave the Democratic response to President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address. In 2008, it was speculated that he was "very, very high" on Barack Obama's shortlist for potential Vice President picks, though Obama ultimately chose Joe Biden.

Kaine was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009-2011, and was elected Senator for Virginia in 2012. There, he built a progressive record and formed good relations with both Democratic and Republican senators. In 2013, he became the first Senator to deliver a speech on the Senate floor not in English when he voiced his support for an immigration bill in Spanish.

2016 Presidential Election

After endorsing Hillary Clinton's campaign for president, Kaine was rumored to be on the shortlist for Clinton's running mate. On July 22nd, 2016, Clinton announced that she had chosen Kaine to be her running mate. He is the first Virginian to be on a major party ticket since Woodrow Wilson. The pick received some criticisms from Democrats who wanted Hillary to pick a woman, such as Elizabeth Warren, or a minority such as Julian Castro, who were both also on the short list.^[5]

During his acceptance speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Kaine gave a speech in which he demonstrated his ability to speak Spanish and needled Republican nominee, Donald Trump.

At the 2016 Vice Presidential Debate, Kaine drew criticism for frequently interrupting Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump running mate, Mike Pence.

Online Presence

Kaine has over 202,000 Facebook likes,^[2] 377,000 Twitter followers,^[3] and 61,600 Instagram followers.^[4]

Search Interest

External References