Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton announced Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her Vice Presidential pick on July 22.
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The Veepstakes of the Democratic candidate have been widely speculated in recent weeks, with contenders such as New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and MA populist Senator Elizabeth Warren also in the running.
The Virginia Senator was one of a handful of finalists for Clinton’s vice presidential pick, including Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, who has a liberal activist background, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and Ohio Sen.
Hillary Clinton is expected to announce her vice presidential running mate today through a text message to supporters, according to Bloomberg based on information from people familiar with her plans.
Many Democrats have lauded Kaine in recent weeks as a top choice to be the former secretary of State’s second-in-command.
With her running mate announcement, Clinton hopes to seize the campaign spotlight back from Trump and Republicans who capped off their convention Thursday with Trump accepting the GOP nomination – a milestone the Clinton campaign highlighted in a bid to rally supporters. She also was likely thinking about some Trump insurance by picking the Senator from a swing state.
Mr Kaine (58), a former mayor and one-time governor of Virginia, comes from a battleground state, something that will help Ms Clinton in her bid to secure important electoral college votes in the election battle against Republican nominee Donald Trump. As fired-up supporters at Trump’s acceptance speech broke out in their oft-used refrain of “Lock her up”, the nominee waved them off, and instead declared, “Let’s defeat her in November”.
But King said those aren’t the only names she’s been hearing on the ground.
“I am afflicted with the responsibility gene, and I know what it’s like being president”, she told Charlie Rose of CBS News and PBS earlier in the week. Cory Booker of New Jersey?
No matter, perhaps, as that time will belong to Clinton and the Democrats, whose own convention begins Monday in Philadelphia. Booker, 47, would be the first black vice president and could help boost turnout among young and African-American voters.
Kaine was raised in Kansas City in a Catholic family and often speaks of his time teaching alongside Jesuit missionaries at a vocational school in Honduras during his time at Harvard Law School.
He’s a man who saw his story rise in Richmond, but now, Tim Kaine seems poised to launch vice presidential punches.
Before his election to the U.S. Senate in 2012, Kaine was chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Kaine has good relations with senators from the opposing party, according to senior Senate Republican congressional aides. Kaine has challenged President Obama and called, along with Republican Sen.
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Kaine arrived in Boston Friday morning for a previously scheduled fundraiser, telling NECN he was “looking forward” to the fundraising event. She called Kaine to tell him about 40 minutes before the announcement, and called President Barack Obama shortly after Kaine. The Republicans nominated NY real estate magnate Donald Trump for president and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence for vice president at their convention, which ended Thursday night.
