By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) sang the praises of new vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz’s middle-class roots this afternoon in Spotsylvania County, after Kaine himself arrived at the event in a decidedly middle-class way. In the back seat of a Mazda 3 Hatchback.
It set the mood for the afternoon, which focused on the renewed energy in the Democratic Party since President Joe Biden stepped aside in favor of Kamala Harris.
Michael Bush, who last November ran for a seat on the Board of Supervisors in Spotsylvania County, said Democrats are building on the “momentum” Harris has generated, and are “moving forward with the President and Vice President.
“We just need to stay coordinated,” he told the Advance.
If today’s event is any indication, that’s exactly how the run to Election Day will be for the party and its candidates.
In introducing Kaine, Del. Joshua Cole (D-65) stressed what’s at stake in November before turning the microphone over the Kaine.
Kaine started at the top of ticket, celebrating the energy that Kamala Harris had brought to the campaign. “There’s a surge,” he said, from small dollar donors, people asking for signs, and offering to volunteer.
But the surge wasn’t his focus — it was the Harris that he knows as a “friend.” He praised her work on maternal mortality while in the Senate and as Vice President.
He dicussed the Harris who Kaine said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) greatly misses on the Intel Committee in the Senate, because she wasn’t afraid to ask the “hard questions” and “did her homework.”
Then he shifted to the diversity of Democratic candidates in Virginia running for Congress. He noted that of the 11 running for seats in the House this year, six are men and five are women; six are Caucasians and five are people of color.
What unites them, he added, was that they “all have a heart for service.”
Hung Cao’s canceling his debate with Kaine on June 20 was also raised. Kaine also noted that today was to be the drop-dead date for committing to a September 19 debate, and that as of that moment Cao had failed to do so.
Cao has, however, agreed to debate on October 2 at Norfolk State University.
A date well after the start of early voting, Kaine noted.
In a conversation prior to addressing the crowd, Kaine told the Advance that the time is “busy, intense.”
For Bush, it’s a time to focus on a “bright future.”
And for the roughly 25 Dems in attendance who were going out to knock doors, it’s time to get the word out about a renewed energy in the Democratic Party.
An energy that even the rear seat of a Mazda 3 hatchback couldn’t dampen for the Senator.
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