Hillary Clinton Friday named Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate, ending weeks of speculation of who would join her on the Democratic ticket in hopes of defeating Republican Donald Trump for the White House in November.
Clinton, 68, the presumptive nominee and former secretary of state, announced her decision on Twitter:
Kaine later posted his own tweet:
Kaine, 58, who was elected to Congress in 2012, beat out a diverse array of contenders: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Labor Secretary Tom Perez.
Clinton also met with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren early in the process — and the senator met with the former first lady's aides this week on how she might be able to help the ticket.
That session suggested that Clinton have removed Warren from consideration for the No. 2 spot.
Former President
Bill Clinton also privately voiced support for Kaine this week, and the White House indicated that President Barack Obama would also support the choice.
In selecting Kaine, Clinton has picked a native Midwesterner and a moderate Democrat who has strong governmental and national security credentials — he also speaks fluent Spanish — in a bid to attract white males and Hispanics to her campaign.
Kaine is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and is a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
He also has served as Virginia's governor and lieutenant governor. Kaine was the mayor of Richmond, the state's capital city, and spent seven years on Richmond City Council.
The pair campaigned together earlier this month in Virginia.
A native of St. Paul, Minn., Kaine was raised outside Kansas City, Mo. He is the son of a welder who owned a small suburban metalworking shop.
He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Missouri — but while studying at the Harvard Law School, Kaine took off a year to volunteer with Catholic missionaries in Honduras.
The Spanish he spoke during his service is expected to help Clinton with Hispanics in such critical swing states as Florida and Virginia.
Clinton is expected to appear with Kaine on Saturday at Florida International University in Miami, where the majority of the students are Hispanic.
The Clinton-Kaine ticket is to be formally nominated at the Democratic National Convention beginning Monday in Philadelphia.
Trump and his vice presidential running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, were officially nominated this week at the GOP convention in Cleveland.
During his years in the Virginia Statehouse, Kaine appealed to Democrats in urban pockets and independents in rural areas, and developed the reputation of being a pragmatic consensus builder.
"He’d appeal to people in the Midwest because that’s his roots," Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond,
told The New York Times.
In addition, Virginians across political lines considered Kaine "a thoroughly decent and honest person," Tobias said.
Kaine moved to Richmond a year after he graduated from Harvard law in 1984, marrying Anne Holton, whom he met in law school. She is the daughter of former Virginia Gov. Linwood Holton. They have three children.
Talk of Kaine's selection, however, brought attacks earlier Friday from liberal groups, many of whom supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, telling the Times that they worried about his positions on Wall Street regulation and world trade.
Kaine has supported NAFTA and voted to give Obama "fast-track" authority on the Trans-Pacific Partnership accord with 12 other nations.
Because the Virginia senator supports TPP, having him as Clinton's running mate "could be disastrous for our efforts to defeat Donald Trump in the fall," said Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America, a liberal political action committee.
Stephanie Taylor, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told the Times that "Hillary Clinton’s vice-presidential pick will be seen by many as a proxy for how she will govern — boldly, or cautiously?
"The wrong pick could deflate energy among potential donors and volunteers, hurting Democratic efforts to win the White House."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.