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Tim Kaine has helped people throughout his life as a missionary, civil rights lawyer, teacher and elected official. He is one of 30 people in American history to have served as a Mayor, Governor and United States Senator.

Early Commitment to Public Service

Tim grew up working in his father’s ironworking shop in Kansas City. His parents taught him the value of hard work and showed him how small businesses and technical skills strengthen this country every day. After graduating from the University of Missouri, Tim started his public service career by running a technical school founded by Jesuit missionaries in Honduras. He trained teenagers to become carpenters and welders, equipping them with skills to lift up themselves and their communities. As Tim says, his work in Honduras was “a North Star” that led to his commitment to advance job opportunities for everyone. His time there reinforced three core values that are still a central part of his life today: “Fe, familia, y trabajo” – “Faith, family, and work.”

Family Life

Tim met Virginian Anne Holton at Harvard Law School and they married in 1984 in the same church in Richmond they attend to this day. They have three adult children. Anne, a former legal aid lawyer and juvenile court judge, served as Virginia Secretary of Education from 2014 until 2016. Before that, Anne ran Great Expectations, a program that offers tutoring, career coaching, and other services to help young adults aging out of foster care and attending Virginia community colleges transition to successful, independent adulthood. She now teaches education policy and government at George Mason University – Tim calls her the best public servant he knows. Anne’s father Linwood Holton, a former Republican Governor of Virginia, was critical to integrating Virginia’s public schools, putting the Commonwealth on the path to progress we see today.

Early Career

After law school, Tim practiced law in Richmond for 17 years, specializing in the representation of people who had been denied housing due to their race, disability, or family status. In 1998, Tim helped win one of the largest civil rights jury verdicts ever in a case involving discrimination against minority neighborhoods by an insurance company. He also began teaching law part-time at the University of Richmond in 1987.

Elected Office

Tim was first elected to office in 1994, serving as a city council member and four years later, Mayor of Richmond. When he was first elected to City Council in Richmond, the city had one of the highest homicide rates in America, and he worked with law enforcement and the community to find solutions that brought down the rate of violent crime. He became Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 2002 and was inaugurated as Virginia’s 70th Governor in 2006. While serving as Governor, Tim improved the education and health care systems, and by the end of his term, leading publications ranked Virginia the best state to raise a child and the best state for business. He visited a school in every county and city in the Commonwealth and helped Virginia make it through the worst recession since the Great Depression. He also responded to the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech by strengthening Virginia’s background check system and pushing his legislature to do more to make communities safer.

In the Senate

Tim was elected to the Senate in 2012 as a can-do optimist skilled in bringing people together across old lines of party, race, or region. Tim has spent his time in the Senate focused on improving the lives of Virginians. He has made boosting job opportunities for everyone a top priority. As co-chair of the bipartisan Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, Tim focuses on expanding access to job-training programs to ensure that students of all ages are prepared with the skills they need for the jobs of the modern economy. Tim has helped lead efforts in the Senate to reduce unemployment for military families and veterans. As a member of the Armed Services Committee, a Senator from one of the states most closely connected to the military, and the father of a Marine, Tim is focused on crafting smart defense strategy and reducing the risk of unnecessary war. He works to ensure that the military has the resources it needs to keep the country safe and that service members and veterans receive the benefits and care they have earned. He has also been the leading voice against Presidents starting wars without a vote by Congress. Tim believes that health care is a right, not something reserved just for those who can afford it, and has consistently pushed for reforms to expand access to quality care. This includes legislation to give Americans more options for affordable health insurance and to combat the opioid abuse epidemic. Tim serves on Senate Committees where he is able to work on those priorities every day for Virginians: the Armed Services; Budget; Foreign Relations; and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committees. He is Ranking Member of the Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee and the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism.

Staff Directory

Source: https://www.kaine.senate.gov/services/staff-directory

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Issues

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Economy & Jobs

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Tim is focused on creating economic opportunity for all Virginians. He believes that by improving education and job training, supporting small businesses, raising wages, providing tax relief to low- and middle-income families, and investing in new industries, the United States will continue to be a global economic leader.

Throughout his work in the Senate, Tim has become a leading voice for strengthening the job training programs Americans need to access good-paying, in-demand jobs that put them on a path to economic success. Drawing from his experience in Virginia, Honduras, and his dad’s ironworking shop, Tim cofounded the bipartisan Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus and has championed legislation—including bills that have become law—to expand students’ access to high-quality CTE programs and help prepare American workers for jobs in the modern economy, including in the cybersecurity industry.

Tim sees small businesses as the drivers of job creation and economic growth in Virginia and across the nation. He has successfully passed legislation, including the American Rescue Plan Act, to help them grow and thrive by increasing their access to capital and lowering barriers to entry for minority entrepreneurs. Tim is concerned about the largest banks getting bigger while the number of small community banks continues to decline. He supported legislation to prevent this consolidation and expand consumer protections for servicemembers, veterans, those with impaired credit, seniors, and people hurt by data breaches. This legislation was signed into law and has helped Virginians in rural and underserved communities secure loans to buy a home, send their kids to college, and start small businesses.

Tim was also proud that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which he helped pass in 2021, included his legislation to expand support for minority-owned businesses in rural areas. That legislation also marked the largest investment in America’s infrastructure needs in generations, creating jobs in Virginia and across the country by repairing roads, bridges, airports, ports, waterways, water treatment facilities, expanding access to broadband, and boosting climate resiliency.

Tim continues to work to build an economy that works for everyone and has sponsored legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour because he believes no one working full time should live in poverty. He also has supported smart tax reforms to provide relief to working Americans and make our tax system fairer and simpler. He helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act to make sure that the largest corporations and wealthiest Americans pay their fair share in taxes.
Tim has long advocated for the resources Virginia needs to continue being a leader in business and industry, including in the manufacturing of semiconductor chips. In 2022, he was proud to help pass the Chips and Science Act, legislation that will provide support for domestic chips production and science research—a win-win-win for job creation, America’s national security, and reducing supply chain bottlenecks. As a manufacturing and research hub, Virginia is uniquely well-positioned to benefit from this legislation.

Virginia has served as a model for the nation by prioritizing investments in education and workforce training, as well as embracing global fair trade, which led to the international expansion of Virginia businesses. Tim believes that we can strengthen America’s economic recovery and create jobs by embracing the growth strategies that have worked in the Commonwealth. Tim served as Governor of Virginia during the worst recession since the Great Depression. Throughout his term, Virginia maintained one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, and Tim helped recruit several major employers to move to the Commonwealth. During his tenure as Governor, Virginia was named the best state for business in America.

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