NORFOLK, Va. — A patriotic decision is how U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) describes President Joe Biden's move to leave the presidential race. He's now throwing his full support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris has said she wants to earn the nomination and Kaine believes she will. He describes her stark contrast with Republican nominee Donald Trump.
"The contrast between a prosecutor who prosecuted fraud and sexual assault and crime standing onstage with a convicted felon, who's also found civically liable for sexual assault is one that I think is going to be very, very powerful," he said.
Kaine called Trump "yesterday's chaos."
"Why would we want to go back there?" he asked. "America broke up with the guy for a reason years ago: mishandling the pandemic, economic collapse, a violent attack on the Capitol."
Kaine is predicting a close race in Virginia, a state that has gone blue in the last four presidential elections. The Biden-Harris campaign committed to increasing staff in the Commonwealth. Over the weekend, Kaine opened the state's 17th Biden-Harris coordinated campaign office in Staunton.
On Monday, Republican VP nominee JD Vance campaigned in Radford, Virginia.
"Virginia is going to be a battleground, an area of focus in this race," Kaine said.
Kaine faces Republican Hung Cao, a retired Navy Captain, in his Senate race in November.
While Democrats have been largely supportive of Harris, Republicans are on the attack.
Virginia's 2nd District Congresswoman Jen Kiggans posted on the social media platform, X, in part:
"Kamala Harris has been a willing accomplice to the record high inflation, open borders and international weakness that have defined their administration and wreaked havoc on our great nation."