Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) as her running mate on Friday night in a text message to her supporters.
Elected to the United States Senate in 2012, Kaine previously served as mayor of Richmond from 1998–2001, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 2002–2005, governor of Virginia from 2006–2010, and chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011.
I'm thrilled to announce my running mate, @TimKaine, a man who's devoted his life to fighting for others. -H pic.twitter.com/lTVyfztE5Z
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 23, 2016
Kaine has a solid record on many core Democratic issues. He supports President Obama’s Affordable Care Act and has long been opposed to the use of the death penalty. Kaine is a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, favoring a pathway to citizenship for immigrants. As governor, he pushed to offer universal pre-kindargarten and also signed a bill to ban smoking in Virginia bars and restaurants.
Additionally, Kaine has spoken out strongly about the need to address global climate change. In 2012, he said “humans have a responsibility to do something” about climate change. He has a lifetime score of 91 percent from the League of Conservation Voters, opposed the Keystone XL pipeline and protected 400,000 acres of land from being developed when he was governor of Virginia.
However, Kaine’s climate record does come with a couple caveats. He has supported offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean and also supported a measure that fast-tracked the building of natural gas terminals.
Kaine has a strong pro-gun control record. While running for the Senate in 2012, he received an “F” from the National Rifle Association. As a governor, he vetoed a bill that would have allowed the carrying of guns in vehicles and has introduced gun control bills in the Senate.
Widely seen as a safe pick, Kaine is well-liked by his Senate colleagues.
As a Catholic, Kane recently acknowledged he’s personally “opposed to abortion.” During his tenure as governor, he signed abortion-restricting laws such as a so-called informed consent measure that he innocuously described as giving “women information about a whole series of things, the health consequences, et cetera, and information about adoption.” His views on reproductive rights seem to have evolved, however, and as a senator he’s received a perfect score from Planned Parenthood for his pro-choice voting record.
Kaine’s support of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal also represents a fault line between him and the progressives supportive of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who strongly opposes the deal.
Some have also raised questions about Kaine’s relationship with Wall Street, as Kaine drew the ire of progressives for recently signing a letter supportive of loosening regulations on large banks.
Kaine is seen as more hawkish than some Democrats on foreign policy. Like Clinton, he has called for a no fly zone around Syria, and has said the Obama administration’s reluctance to implement one “will go down as one of the big mistakes that we’ve made, equivalent to the decision not to engage in humanitarian activity in Rwanda in the 1990s.” Kaine also describes himself as a “strongly pro-Israel Democrat.” Kaine did, however, boycott Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech in front of Congress because of the breach in protocol in inviting Netanyahu.
Like Hillary Clinton, Kaine has evolved somewhat on the issue of LGBT rights. Though he opposed same-sex marriage as governor and said when pressed on the issue in 2012 that he thinks “labels get in the way of the issue,” he has supported same-sex marriage since 2013. And as governor, Kaine campaigned against Virginia’s 2006 referendum to prohibit same-sex marriage. He banned discrimination in state employment on the basis of sexual orientation on his first day in office.
Evan Popp is an intern at ThinkProgress.
Update:
Kaine came out against the TPP on July 23, reportedly telling Clinton earlier that week he would oppose the trade deal. However, Kaine did praise the deal the day before Clinton selected him as her running mate.