“I’ve been honored to serve people as a missionary, civil rights lawyer, and elected official at the local, state, and federal levels. I love the Commonwealth and its citizens and want to keep being your senator,” said Kaine, whose campaign released a video rolling out his re-election effort.
Kaine has represented Virginia in the U.S. Senate since 2012. The former governor also made a run as the vice presidential nominee on the 2016 Democratic Party ticket alongside Hillary Clinton.
Kaine’s start in elected politics came in 1994 when he won his first race for a seat on Richmond City Council.
He served as the mayor of Richmond from 1998-2001. He stepped down after he was elected to serve as lieutenant governor in the 2001 statewide election that saw Mark Warner elected governor.
Warner was elected to Virginia’s other seat in the U.S. Senate in 2008, and is currently in his third term in the Senate.
Kaine is a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees in the Senate.
He is seeking a third term because he said “there is so much to be done.”
“We need more skilled workers, we should invest more in technical training, provide more affordable high-quality child care, and find a path to a work-based immigration reform bill,” Kaine said. “We need to expand access to mental health services, to battle addiction, and bring down health care costs for all. We need to fight for fundamental liberties, including the freedom to make your own reproductive decisions and the right to vote. Virginia’s natural bounty—air, water, open space—needs protection from threats including climate change. And in a world with threats to democracies at home and abroad, we need a national security strategy that keeps us safe while building up the capacity of the U.S. and our allies to link arms against global threats of all kinds.”