Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks as U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) wave to the crowd during a campaign rally at Ernst Community Cultural Center in Annandale, Va., on July 14, 2016.
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Mrs Clinton unveiled her pick of the Virginian Senator in a tweet to her 7.6million followers on Twitter.
Hours after a rally in Tampa, Florida, where Clinton took the stage alone, the campaign used a text message and social media posts to announce that Kaine, a centrist lawmaker from a swing state, was her pick for vice president.
As for who the nominee will be, insiders still overwhelmingly say it will be Virginia Sen.
Kaine, the 58-year-old former governor of Virginia, was almost President Barack Obama’s running mate nearly eight years ago.
The announcement comes ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which begins in Philadelphia on Monday. Elizabeth Warren and two Hispanic Cabinet members, Julian Castro and Thomas Perez.
In his acceptance speech, Trump characterized Clinton as corrupt, incompetent and hopelessly out of touch, saying she left a legacy of “death, destruction, terrorism and weakness”.
While Republicans are split over support for Trump, their collective hatred of Clinton proved a potent unifier this week in Cleveland, where delegates clamored to demand her imprisonment, painting her as above the law.
“I love that about him”, Ms Clinton told CBS News. “I don’t think he’s lost an election since”, former classmate Martin Meyer said.
Kaine is now serving as senator but previously served as a mayor and governor.
Kaine has no problem with critics calling him boring. It’s also the final puzzle piece for the general election, pitting Clinton and Kaine against Republican Donald Trump and running mate Mike Pence, the IN governor.
Kaine told the Associated Press that he was not looking for another job, while Booker would not say if he was even interested.
For her part, Clinton has intentionally held her pick close to the chest since the vetting process ended this week, Democrats close to the process said, in hopes of keeping her choice a secret until the last possible moment. Now we have Tim Kaine, a vice-presidential nominee who voted to put that deal on the fast-track to approval, and recently made waves by calling for more bank deregulation.
“I am with you, I will fight for you and I will win for you”, he said.
But he lacked experience with Congress and in foreign policy, two skills viewed by many as necessary for anyone being considered to be within a heartbeat of the presidency.
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Clinton has faced her own struggle unifying Democrats and winning over liberal backers of Democratic primary rival Bernie Sanders, a USA senator from Vermont.
