Sen. Tim Kaine was on WAMU’s The Politics Hour a little while ago. Here’s what he had to say on some key topics, including last night’s debate, Jay Jones, the Middle East, the government shutdown, etc.
First, here’s Sen. Tim Kaine on last night’s debate:
“What I’ve most heard about the debate from my wife who watched it and others and then watching some of the recaps is the difference in temperament…I don’t think a debate like that is probably going to change the mind of people who had their minds made up. But for folks who haven’t made up their mind, I think the temperament issue is really critical here. We here we have a really tough time in this state right now of 9 million people. The economy has been softening because of Donald Trump’s war on the federal workforce, tariffs hurting the economy…there’s a lot of tough tough issues out there. And I think people who haven’t made their minds up are thinking, ok, the temperament of a governor in a tough time, we’ve got to have somebody disciplined. We’ve got to have somebody serious. And I think what they saw is that kind of temperament for the tough times in Abigail Spanberger and a much more sort of unsteady, combative, mercurial temperament in Abigail’s opponent. And for those who haven’t made their minds up, I think the temperament issue will really tip them Abigail’s way.”
Next, here’s Sen. Kaine on the Jay Jones situation (asked by Tom Sherwood, “what the hell happened here?”):
“You know, Tom, I sort of have the same question. I have a hard time putting myself into the shoes and explaining it, and I certainly am not defending it. Those comments were just way beyond the pale. There’s no defense of them. But I know Jay Jones well, and so this is one where I put 25 years of knowing Jay Jones. I ran against Jay’s dad, Jerrauld Jones, who was the leader of the Legislative Black Caucus in the General Assembly. I ran against him for lieutenant governor in a three-way Democratic primary in 2001. And I got to know Jay at the time a teenager. I’ve known Jay. I’ve watched him grow up to be a a great lawyer. I’ve watched him have a a strong career in the General Assembly. These were private texts that he was sharing obviously with someone that he felt was a friend who would keep these thoughts in private. And sometimes we say things to friends that are pretty extreme that we’re not believing that they’re going to pass on to the world. They are indefensible. But as I look at 25 years of knowing this guy and watching him grow and thrive and be a public servant and I put that on one side of the scale. And I put these abhorrent texts on the other side of the scale, for me the scale still tips toward I’m a Jay Jones supporter.”
Now, here’s Sen. Kaine on government shutdown negotiations, federal workers’ back pay, and the impact on Virginia:
“We put an alternative on the table on September 18 that included a permanent extension of the tax credits, because we don’t want to see people’s health insurance double or triple before before the end of the year. They’re getting notices now. That was not a non-negotiable demand. That was the alternative we put on the table after Donald Trump told the Republicans, ‘write a budget and don’t deal with Democrats.’ We fully understand the president might want to negotiate. It’s just that he hasn’t been willing to yet. He only held one meeting in the White House on the 29th of September. The Democrats talked about why this was important. Many Republicans have said they want to fix it. When the leadership left the meeting, Donald Trump put up AI-generated juvenile videos of of leaders with sombreros on and artificially enhanced voices. He’s not taking this seriously. And the way we get out of a shutdown, and it always works like this, is the president gets the leadership in the Oval Office and they work out a deal. Donald Trump needs to do that.”
“I forced the vote on a bill…that says that in the event of any future shutdown, federal employees are guaranteed back pay. In the past, if there had been a shutdown, you’d have to fight about back pay later. We got the bill done. I insisted upon a commitment from the White House that they would sign the bill, which they gave me. They did then sign the bill. It’s an accomplishment of the Trump administration. They should he should be proud of that accomplishment. Instead, underlings over at the OMB are suggesting they will stiff these federal workers and go back on President Trump’s promise. I hope President Trump has pride in his own work and I believe the law is clear that the federal employees will be given back pay when we reopen and we will reopen.”
“[Trump’s administration] since inauguration day has been punishing Virginians by willy-nilly firing of federal employees, cancellation of federal contracts, clawing back hundreds of millions of public health dollars from Virginia, cancelling economic development projects all over the state. And so when Donald Trump’s team says, you know, well, we’re going to punish you, we’re going to fire more workers, we don’t view that as an empty threat, but we basically say, ‘yeah, but you’ve been doing that anyway.‘ So, why don’t you come to the table like all presidents do, like you did in your first term to get us out of the shutdown that you engineered in 2018 and 2019. Why don’t you come back to the table? We’ll find a deal to find funding and avoid catastrophic healthcare premium increases. That’s what we’re looking for right now.”
