Senator Tim Kaine is an American attorney and politician from Virginia. In July Hillary Clinton chose Kaine as her running mate for the November presidential election. She selected a man from a battleground-state with a root in the working-class.

Clinton’s advisers spent months studying potential vice-presidential candidates who could strengthen the Democratic ticket in an unpredictable race against Donald Trump. Clinton selected Kaine as someone who shares her political philosophy and a practical view on governing.

Although Clinton and Kaine are pragmatic in their own rights, they still differ on a few hot topics that are important to Americans in this election.

Kaine opposes the death penalty. This is shaped by his Roman Catholic faith. Tim Kaine has supported renovating the criminal justice system and supported a right that would give judges more flexibility on sentencing.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade agreement among 12 different countries across the Pacific Rim, got a lot of attention on this elections campaign trail since the countries involved reached an agreement in October of 2015. People who support the deal say it will stimulate their own nations economy. Kaine supported the TPP agreement.

“I was a strong supporter a year ago of giving President Obama the ability to negotiate a trade deal. But I said at the time, when that deal was done and on the table, I was going to look at it very carefully. And I even expressed a very serious concern I had with how it was developed, which is that companies were given rights to enforce provisions, but the labor and environmental provisions could not be effectively enforced. That was never fixed. I’ve asked again and again to understand this piece of the TPP. And I’ve never gotten a good answer. We can’t have a deal that cannot be enforced,” said Kaine.

Clinton on the contrary doesn’t agree on the trade deal. “I have said from the very beginning that we had to have a trade agreement that would create good American jobs, raise wages and advance our national security and I still believe that’s the high bar we have to meet. I don’t believe [the Trans-Pacific Partnership] is going to meet the high bar I have set,” Clinton said.

Otherwise, Clinton and Kaine’s views are practically all aligned. They agree on education reform. Clinton helped draft the No Child Left Behind act which supports standard based education reforms based on setting high standards. The NCLB act also makes sure that states are developing assessments in basic skills. If a state wants to receive federal funding they must give certain assessments to all students at their specific grade levels. So basically, if the state Texas wants money from the federal government they must administer the STAAR test to us.

Kaine and Clinton agree on gun control – promising to expand background checks on potential gun owners.

They agree on abortion rights. Clinton and Kaine both support Planned Parenthood, but Clinton has been a bit more outspoken on this issue on her own personal bias. Clinton has called Planned Parenthood “a concerted, persistent assault on women’s health across our country” back in June at a Planned Parenthood Action Fund speech. Kaine has admitted to being a “traditional Catholic” and opposes abortion on his own personal level. However in an interview back in June, he stated that he doesn’t let his personal beliefs intervene on the issue.

“I deeply believe, and not just as a matter of politics, but even as a matter of morality, that matters about reproduction and intimacy and relationships and contraception are in the personal realm. They’re moral decisions for individuals to make for themselves. And the last thing we need is government intruding into those personal decisions,” commented Kaine.

Hillary Clinton informally introduced Kaine as her VP pick to Twitter in late July saying that she was “thrilled to announce [her] running mate, @TimKaine, a man who’s devoted his life to fighting for others. –H.”

Read an article on Donald Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, by clicking here.
https://www.timbercreektalon.com/2016/10/who-is-the-real-mike-pence/