On July 22nd, 2016, Hillary Clinton announced that Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia is her running mate in the 2016 election cycle. He had long been the front-runner on the short list of possible vice presidential candidates for Clinton.
But who is he? A politician, yes, but who is this man as an individual is a popular question.
1. He is a traveler.
Kaine was born in the capital of Minnesota, raised in the Kansas City area of Missouri, studied in one of the biggest cities in Massachusetts, lived almost a year as a missionary in El Progreso, Honduras, and rooted himself in Virginia.
His nine months in Central America afforded him to learn personal lessons, including learning a second language. He continues to utilize his Spanish tongue, such as by delivering a speech on the senate floor about immigration in Spanish - which was unprecedented.
2. He is a well-educated man.
Kaine was a Coro Foundation fellow in 1978, earned a bachelor degree in economics from University of Missouri in '79, a juris doctor degree from Harvard Law School in '83, and was admitted to the Virginia bar in '84.
His law school graduation resulted in being a law clerk for Judge R. Lanier Anderson, III of the U.S. court of appeals for the eleventh circuit, in Macon, Georgia. For six years in late '80s and early '90s he taught legal ethics as an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.
3. He is a progressive.
Kaine practiced private law in Virginia for almost two decades. He specialized in fair housing and racial discrimination. He was an activist lawyer who did frequent pro bono work, and who was a member of various organizations that claim to want to fight poverty.
His tenure as a city councilman and mayor of Richmond in the '90s was riddled with progressive, racial politics - he was the first white mayor in over a decade by that point. During his mayoral terms, he was a fierce proponent of gun control, and he reduced taxes, which resulted in Richmond being a business-friendly city.
As governor, where he got strong support from fellow popular Democratic U.S. senator and former governor Mark Warner, he championed housing, traffic, environmental, healthcare, gun, education, and infrastructure issues, favored by progressives.
In 2008, Kaine was the first major politician outside Illinois to endorse then-senator Barack Obama for president. Unlike 2012, the progressive movement was really excited over Obama. From 2009 to 2011, he was the chair of the DNC, where he oversaw party growth and extensive involvement among progressives.
As U.S. senator, he has a largely progressive voting record. Such as his votes with social issues, civil liberties, criminal justice, and immigration issues. However, he supports foreign policy interventions and moderate fiscal views, much to the dismay of progressives.
4. He is the husband of a politician.
Kaine is married to Anne Bright Holton, a lawyer he met in law school, in 1984. She is the daughter of a governor of Virginia A. Linwood Holton Jr., and like her husband was a student of predominantly black schools growing up.
She graduated from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1980 and earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School in '83.
After graduation, similar to Tim Kaine, she clerked for a federal judge, for Judge Robert R. Merhige, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. She then was a lawyer helping families in Virginia.
From 1998 to 2005, she served as a judge on the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court for Richmond, serving as chief judge of the court from 2000 to '03. She resigned when her husband became governor.
She served as Virginia's second lady and first lady from 2002 to 2010. In 2014, Governor Terry McAuliffe appointed Anne Holton to the state's secretary of education, where she is an incumbent.
5. He is a paragon of diversity.
Kaine comes across so indiscriminate he has been one of only few whites elected as mayor in Richmond for generations. He grew up in predominantly black schools, much like his wife.
He polls well with most Democrats, especially progressives and liberals; with independents; and even some Republicans. Mostly because of his personality, his centrist positions, and his Christian faith.
His fluency in Spanish goes a long way, especially when he talks immigration - in opposition to the 2016 GOP nominee Donald Trump and his boring running mate Mike Pence. The church he attends is a black church, no less.
Not to mention his very rich Irish heritage.
6. He is a seasoned politician.
Kaine is a U.S. senator, but, like his fellow senator Mark Warner, he was a popular governor before that. He was lieutenant governor when Warner was governor, he was mayor of a major city in the state, and a city councilman before that.
He is only one of handful of politicians to serve as mayor, governor, and senator.
Kaine was also the chair of the DNC, was on the short list for Obama's running mate, has long been on Clinton's short list for the same, now is her running mate, and has won every race he has filed for.
He polls well across the board. Delegates of the Democratic Party highly favor Kaine. It can be argued he is more popular than Clinton herself.
Given her background, and the division under an Obama U.S., Clinton - who was a state secretary, senator, first lady, and a controversial lawyer - needed a seasoned politician who could help her stroll through transition. This could make her first hundred days successful in comparison to her predecessors.
7. He is a nice guy who finishes first.
Kaine is not only a successful politician electorally, but he is considered a nice guy. Being a Democrat who caucuses with both progressives and liberals, he also has friends with Republicans.
The harmonica-playing Virginian has a racially-diverse background despite being an "old, white man." No wonder why he polls high in a purple, swing state.
In contrast to Clinton, he is not known to be a mud-slinging, dirty campaigner. Even his eyebrow-famous response to George W. Bush's state of the union in 2006 was tame, yet firm, according to Democratic insiders.
Like him or hate him, voters will see this as a breath of fresh air - especially since, boring Pence is already slinging the mud.
8. He is the presumptive Vice President.
Above all, Tim Kaine is Joe Biden's successor. Given that Mike Pence is on a planned losing ticket -- given all the bad decisions the campaign has made, such as picking a boring running mate -- he will not be the next vice president.
The last time a party won three terms in a row was when George H.W. Bush of the Republican Party won one term after two terms of Ronald Reagan. The last time a party won more than three terms was in the 1930s and '40s under the Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman years with the Democratic Party.
But alas, this will not be the end of either major party. The GOP will nominate a crooked challenger to take on the crooked President Hillary Clinton in 2020. And Vice President Tim Kaine, if re-elected, could usher in a fifth consecutive Democratic term in 2024 - unless the GOP stops nominating big-government and big-business crooks.
