Subscribe
Hellobeautiful Featured Video
CLOSE

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has chosen Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine to be her running mate on the 2016 Democratic ticket, she announced Friday on Twitter. 

“I’m thrilled to announce my running mate, @TimKaine, a man who’s devoted his life to fighting for others. -H,” she tweeted.

According to CNN, Clinton will publicily introduce Kaine at a rally in Miami on Saturday, which may serve as a way for Kaine, who speaks fluent Spanish, to reintroduce Clinton to Latino voters in that state and around the nation. 

Earlier this week, HELLO BEAUTIFUL reported that Clinton had also interviewed Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro for this coveted position. Had she went with Warren, Clinton have made history having the first all-female ticket for the Dems (and the Republicans). And had she chose Castro, he would have been the first Latino candidate in history to be on a ticket.

But, according to the New York Times, Clinton explained to PBS that she is “afflicted with the responsibility gene” and went with a safer choice, instead of choosing a candidate with less experience or one that would “push the historic nature of her candidacy by adding another woman or a minority to the ticket.” Not to mention, we wouldn’t be surprised if the blatant pro-white, “take America back from them” rhetoric spewed all week at the Republican National Convention also played a role in choosing a white man from the South to campaign by her side.

So who is Kaine? Well, according to CNN he:

  • Was born in Minnesota and is the son of a welder who was raised in Kansas.

  • Graduated from the University of Missouri. 

  • Went to Harvard law school, but spent a year as a Catholic missionary in Honduras.

  • Was the first member of Congress to give an entire speech on the Senate floor in Spanish.

  • Served as the Democratic National Committee chairman during the first years of the Obama administration.
  • Is perceived as far more of political moderate, but is a staunch abortion rights supporter, stands behind the Affordable Care Act and announced his support for same-sex marriage in 2013

According to the New York Times:

  • Kaine worked on fair housing and civil right issues as a lawyer.
  • He was was elected to the city council in Richmond, Va., in 1994; became city’s mayor in 1998, the state’s lieutenant governor in 2002 and its governor in 2006.
  • Kaine was an early endorser of then-Senator Barack Obama’s presidential bid in the 2008 (against Mrs. Clinton).

  • He might turn off some liberal Democrats, like Bernie Sanders, because of his support for free trade agreements.

Perhaps, we can get to learn more about Kaine at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia that kicks off on Monday.

The grand return of the Melanin Awards amplifies and honors the finest Black-owned beauty brands with honest reviews, and discusses the evolution of beauty in Hip-Hop culture.