Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael Kaine (/keɪn/ KAYN; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 70th governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, and as the 38th lieutenant governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006. Kaine was the Democratic nominee for vice president of the United States in the 2016 election as Hillary Clinton's running mate.
For the American economist, see Tim Kane.
Tim Kaine
Mark Warner
Bill Bolling
Larry Chavis
Benjamin P.A. Warthen
William J. Pantele
3
Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Kaine grew up in Overland Park, Kansas, graduated from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, and earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School before entering private practice and becoming a lecturer at the University of Richmond School of Law. He was first elected to public office in 1994, when he won a seat on the Richmond City Council. He was elected mayor of Richmond in 1998 and held that position until being elected lieutenant governor of Virginia in 2001. Kaine was elected governor of Virginia in 2005 and held that office from 2006 to 2010. He chaired the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011.
On July 22, 2016, Hillary Clinton introduced Kaine as her vice-presidential running mate. The 2016 Democratic National Convention nominated him on July 27. Despite winning a plurality of the national popular vote, the Clinton–Kaine ticket lost the Electoral College, and therefore the election, to the Republican ticket of Donald Trump and Mike Pence on November 8, 2016. Kaine was reelected to a second Senate term in 2018, defeating Republican Corey Stewart.
Legal career and Richmond City Council
After graduating from law school, Kaine was a law clerk for Judge R. Lanier Anderson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Macon, Georgia.[8] He then joined the Richmond law firm of Little, Parsley & Cluverius, P.C.[8] In 1987, Kaine became a director of the law firm of Mezzullo & McCandlish, P.C.[8] He practiced law in Richmond for 17 years, specializing in fair housing law and representing clients discriminated against on the basis of race or disability.[16] He was a board member of the Virginia chapter of Housing Opportunities Made Equal, which he represented in a landmark redlining discrimination lawsuit against Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. arising from the company's practices in Richmond.[17][18] Kaine won a $100.5 million verdict in the case; the judgment was overturned on appeal, and Kaine and his colleagues negotiated a $17.5 million settlement.[18]
Kaine did regular pro bono work.[17] In 1988, he started teaching legal ethics as an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.[8][16] Kaine taught at the University of Richmond for six years; his students included future Virginia attorney general Mark Herring.[16][19] He was a founding member of the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness.[17]
Kaine had a largely apolitical childhood, but became interested in politics in part due to the influence of his wife's family and his experience attending Richmond city council meetings.[7] In 1994, he was elected the 2nd district member of the city council of the independent city of Richmond, defeating incumbent city councilor Benjamin P.A. Warthen by less than 100 votes.[20] He took his seat on July 1 and retained the position until September 10, 2001, when he resigned and William J. Pantele was appointed to succeed him.[21][22][23] He defeated the incumbent city councilman Benjamin P. A. Warthen by 97 votes.[24] Kaine spent four terms on the city council, the latter two as mayor of Richmond.[16][25]
Mayor of Richmond (1998–2001)
On July 1, 1998, Kaine was elected mayor of Richmond, succeeding Larry Chavis.[26][27] He was chosen by an 8 to 1 vote[24] on the majority-black Richmond City Council,[b] becoming the city's first white mayor in more than ten years,[22][25] which was viewed as a surprise.[26] Rudy McCollum, an African American city councilor also interested in the mayoralty, decided to back Kaine after a private meeting between the two, clearing the way for Kaine to win the election.[24] Previous mayors had treated the role as primarily ceremonial,[28] with the city manager effectively operating the city; Kaine treated it as a full-time job, taking a more hands-on role.[26]
As mayor, Kaine used a sale-leaseback arrangement to obtain funds to renovate the historic Maggie L. Walker High School and reopen it in 2000 as a magnet governor's school, the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies, which "now serves the top students in Central Virginia".[29] Three elementary schools and one middle school were also built in Richmond under Kaine.[30] Along with Commonwealth's attorney David Hicks, U.S. attorney James Comey, and police chief Jerry Oliver, Kaine was a supporter of Project Exile, an initiative that shifted gun crimes to federal court, where defendants faced harsher sentences.[26] Though controversial, the effort was effective and achieved widespread support; the city's homicide rate fell by 55% during Kaine's mayoralty.[26][31] Kaine touted Project Exile during his 2001 campaign for lieutenant governor.[30][31]
On several occasions, Kaine voted against tax increases, and supported a tax abatement program for renovated buildings, which was credited for a housing renovation boom in the city.[26] Forbes magazine named Richmond one of "the 10 best cities in America to do business" during Kaine's term.[32]
According to John Moeser, a professor emeritus of urban studies and planning at Virginia Commonwealth University and later a visiting fellow at the University of Richmond's Center for Civic Engagement, Mayor Kaine "was energetic, charismatic and, most important, spoke openly about his commitment to racial reconciliation in Richmond."[26] The New York Times wrote that Kaine "was by all accounts instrumental in bridging the city's racial divide."[18] In the early part of his term, Kaine issued an apology for the city's role in slavery;[30][33] the apology was generally well received as "a genuine, heartfelt expression".[30] In the latter part of his term, a contentious debate took place over the inclusion of a portrait of Confederate general Robert E. Lee in a set of historic murals to be placed on city floodwalls.[24][27] Many African Americans were outraged that Lee would appear on city walls, while Southern heritage groups demanded that the picture remain.[24] Kaine proposed a compromise in which Lee would appear as part of a series of murals that also included figures like Abraham Lincoln and Powhatan Beaty.[24] His stance drew criticism from the NAACP; Kaine argued that placing Lee on the floodwall made sense in context, and that "Much of our history is not pleasant; you can't whitewash it."[18][27] Kaine's proposal passed the council on a 6–3 vote.[24]
During his mayoralty, Kaine drew criticism for spending $6,000 in public funds on buses to the Million Mom March, an anti-gun-violence rally in Washington, D.C.; after a backlash, he raised the money privately and reimbursed the city.[34]
Democratic National Committee chair (2009–2011)
In January 2009, Kaine became chair of the Democratic National Committee.[108][e] He had turned down the position the first time it was offered to him, expressing misgivings about accepting a partisan position,[25] but took the job at Obama's request.[109] He took on the position as chair part-time as he continued his term as governor of Virginia.[110] Kaine's main goals as DNC chair "were protecting the party's seats in Congress during the 2010 midterms and integrating the president's campaign apparatus, Organizing for America, and its technological acumen into the party machinery."[111] In the 2010 midterms, the DNC under Kaine's leadership outraised the Republican National Committee (RNC) by $30 million,[111] but Democrats lost control of the House and lost seats in the Senate amidst a Tea Party backlash. Kaine was not generally blamed for the losses.[111]
Kaine kept a low profile in the position in comparison to his counterpart, RNC chairman Michael Steele.[110][112] He focused more on fundraising and maintaining party unity than on attacking political opponents.[112]
In February 2011, after Kaine spoke to union leaders in Madison, Organizing for America got involved in Wisconsin's budget battle and opposed Republican-sponsored anti-union legislation. It made phone calls, sent emails, and distributed messages via Facebook and Twitter to build crowds for rallies.[113]
After completing his term as governor in January 2010, Kaine taught part-time at the University of Richmond, teaching a course in spring 2010 at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies and another in fall 2010 at the University of Richmond School of Law.[114][115] He explained that he had chosen to teach at a private university rather than a public university "because it would not have been right for a sitting governor to be seeking employment at an institution when he writes the budget and appoints the board of the institution."[116]
Personality and leadership style
About 145,000 emails from Kaine and his staff during his term as governor are publicly accessible at the Library of Virginia. Politico conducted an analysis of the correspondence and wrote that the messages show Kaine to be a "media-savvy" and detail-oriented "micro-manager" who is also a policy "wonk".[169]
According to The New York Times, Kaine "is widely described by people in his political orbit as a likable if less than charismatic figure...guided by moral convictions that flow from his deep Christian faith."[18] On Meet the Press, Kaine called himself "boring."[18][170]
Awards and honors
Kaine has received the Humanitarian Award from the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, then the Virginia Region of the National Conference for Community and Justice (2000),[309] the Virginia Council of Churches' Faith in Action Award (2009),[310] the University of Richmond School of Law's William Green Award for Professional Excellence (2012),[311] the Award for Public Service in the Americas from the Inter-American Dialogue (2014),[312] the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's Congressional Award (2015),[313] and the Center for the National Interest's Distinguished Service Award (2016).[314] He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic in 2017.[315]