Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a popular politician from a battleground state, is emerging as Hillary Clinton’s top pick for vice president, according to reports from the New York Times and Politico. After an extensive, months-long process to vet possible vice presidents, including Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Corry Booker (D-NJ), Kaine is reportedly sitting at the top of the list. President Obama, Bill Clinton, and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, have also privately or publicly expressed their support for Senator Kaine.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said to reporters earlier this week that “Senator Kaine was one of the first public officials to announce a public endorsement of Senator Obama.” “He served as the chair of the DNC during President Obama’s first year in office and Senator Kaine is somebody that the president deeply respects.”
Although Clinton aides have cautioned that Hilary Clinton has not yet made a final decision, she is widely expected to announce her choice in an email to supporters while on a two-day campaign swing in Florida this afternoon, according to morning reports.
Kaine, is the son of a welder and is a Spanish-speaking former missionary and onetime swing-state governor sits on both the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees in the Senate. If Kaine becomes the vice president pick, it is expected that Governor McAuliffe would fill Kaine’s Senate Seat.
