Summary

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About

Tim Kaine has helped people throughout his life as a missionary, civil rights lawyer, teacher and elected official. He is one of 30 people in American history to have served as a Mayor, Governor and United States Senator.

Early Commitment to Public Service

Tim grew up working in his father’s ironworking shop in Kansas City. His parents taught him the value of hard work and showed him how small businesses and technical skills strengthen this country every day. After graduating from the University of Missouri, Tim started his public service career by running a technical school founded by Jesuit missionaries in Honduras. He trained teenagers to become carpenters and welders, equipping them with skills to lift up themselves and their communities. As Tim says, his work in Honduras was “a North Star” that led to his commitment to advance job opportunities for everyone. His time there reinforced three core values that are still a central part of his life today: “Fe, familia, y trabajo” – “Faith, family, and work.”

Family Life

Tim met Virginian Anne Holton at Harvard Law School and they married in 1984 in the same church in Richmond they attend to this day. They have three adult children. Anne, a former legal aid lawyer and juvenile court judge, served as Virginia Secretary of Education from 2014 until 2016. Before that, Anne ran Great Expectations, a program that offers tutoring, career coaching, and other services to help young adults aging out of foster care and attending Virginia community colleges transition to successful, independent adulthood. She now teaches education policy and government at George Mason University – Tim calls her the best public servant he knows. Anne’s father Linwood Holton, a former Republican Governor of Virginia, was critical to integrating Virginia’s public schools, putting the Commonwealth on the path to progress we see today.

Early Career

After law school, Tim practiced law in Richmond for 17 years, specializing in the representation of people who had been denied housing due to their race, disability, or family status. In 1998, Tim helped win one of the largest civil rights jury verdicts ever in a case involving discrimination against minority neighborhoods by an insurance company. He also began teaching law part-time at the University of Richmond in 1987.

Elected Office

Tim was first elected to office in 1994, serving as a city council member and four years later, Mayor of Richmond. When he was first elected to City Council in Richmond, the city had one of the highest homicide rates in America, and he worked with law enforcement and the community to find solutions that brought down the rate of violent crime. He became Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 2002 and was inaugurated as Virginia’s 70th Governor in 2006. While serving as Governor, Tim improved the education and health care systems, and by the end of his term, leading publications ranked Virginia the best state to raise a child and the best state for business. He visited a school in every county and city in the Commonwealth and helped Virginia make it through the worst recession since the Great Depression. He also responded to the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech by strengthening Virginia’s background check system and pushing his legislature to do more to make communities safer.

In the Senate

Tim was elected to the Senate in 2012 as a can-do optimist skilled in bringing people together across old lines of party, race, or region. Tim has spent his time in the Senate focused on improving the lives of Virginians. He has made boosting job opportunities for everyone a top priority. As co-chair of the bipartisan Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, Tim focuses on expanding access to job-training programs to ensure that students of all ages are prepared with the skills they need for the jobs of the modern economy. Tim has helped lead efforts in the Senate to reduce unemployment for military families and veterans. As a member of the Armed Services Committee, a Senator from one of the states most closely connected to the military, and the father of a Marine, Tim is focused on crafting smart defense strategy and reducing the risk of unnecessary war. He works to ensure that the military has the resources it needs to keep the country safe and that service members and veterans receive the benefits and care they have earned. He has also been the leading voice against Presidents starting wars without a vote by Congress. Tim believes that health care is a right, not something reserved just for those who can afford it, and has consistently pushed for reforms to expand access to quality care. This includes legislation to give Americans more options for affordable health insurance and to combat the opioid abuse epidemic. Tim serves on Senate Committees where he is able to work on those priorities every day for Virginians: the Armed Services; Budget; Foreign Relations; and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committees. He is Ranking Member of the Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee and the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism.

Personal

Education

JD, Harvard University School of Law, 1983

BA, Economics, University of Missouri, 1979

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Politics

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Election Results

2001 lieutenant gubernatorial election

2005 gubernatorial election

2012 U.S. Senate election

2016 vice presidential election

2018 U.S. Senate election

Finances

Source: Open Secrets

Committees

New Legislation

Source: Congress. Gov

Issues

Source: Government page

Economy & Jobs

Tim is focused on creating economic opportunity for all Virginians. He believes that by supporting small businesses, raising wages, improving education and workforce training, and investing in new industries, the United States will continue to be a global economic leader.

Tim supports raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour because he believes no family working full time should live in poverty. He believes all Americans should have access to good jobs that put them on the path to economic success, and he supports strengthening workforce training programs to help make that goal a reality. Drawing from his experience in Virginia, Honduras, and his dad’s ironworking shop, Tim has been a leader in the Senate on efforts to support skills-training programs that prepare workers for good-paying, in-demand jobs. Tim co-founded the bipartisan Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus and has championed legislation — including bills that have become law — to expand students’ access to high-quality CTE programs and help prepare American workers for jobs in the modern economy, including in the cybersecurity industry.

Tim sees small businesses as the drivers of job creation and economic growth in Virginia and across the nation. He supports policies to help them grow and thrive by increasing their access to capital and lowering barriers to entry for minority entrepreneurs. Tim has been an advocate for women- and minority-owned businesses as well as companies that provide opportunities for veterans, military families, and people with disabilities. He is a strong supporter of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and is concerned about the largest banks getting bigger while the number of small community banks continues to decline. Tim has supported a bill to prevent this consolidation and expand consumer protections for servicemembers, veterans, those with impaired credit, seniors, and people hurt by data breaches. This legislation will help Virginians in rural and underserved communities secure loans to buy a home, send their kids to college, and start small businesses.

Tim has long supported smart tax reforms that provide relief to middle-class families and make the tax code fairer and simpler.

Virginia has served as a model for the nation by prioritizing investments in education and workforce training, as well as embracing global fair trade, which led to the international expansion of Virginia businesses. Tim believes that we can strengthen America’s economic recovery and create jobs by embracing the growth strategies that have worked in the Commonwealth. Tim served as Governor of Virginia during the worst recession since the Great Depression. Throughout his term, Virginia maintained one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, and Tim helped recruit several major employers to move to the Commonwealth. During his tenure as Governor, Virginia was named the best state for business in America.

Agriculture

Tim is a strong advocate for Virginia’s farmers. Agriculture and forestry comprise the largest industry in the Commonwealth, contributing $91 billion to the economy and supporting more than 334,000 jobs. He supports a robust farm safety net, protecting our natural resources, and defending federal nutrition assistance that helps the neediest among us.
Tim was a major proponent of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, which included a Warner-Kaine sponsored measure to legalize industrial hemp production and clearly define hemp as an agricultural commodity. The legislation also included provisions to strengthen crop insurance, maintain the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) program and other nutrition aid, advance partnerships with farmers to reduce runoff in impaired watersheds like the Chesapeake Bay, expand agricultural export markets, and bolster local food networks to allow more businesses and consumers to buy from local farmers. Tim has stood up for Virginia’s farmers throughout his time in the Senate, working on efforts to lift the unfair Chinese ban on Virginia poultrythat has persisted on and offand supporting reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, which helps small and mid-sized Virginia farmers and agricultural exporters sell their goods abroad. Tim has also worked to secure federal funding for agricultural research, so that top institutions like Virginia Tech and Virginia State University can continue to develop new, effective methods of farming.
From his time as Governor, Tim has worked to defend the Chesapeake Bay, a cornerstone of Virginia’s economy that supports the tourism, recreation, and seafood aquaculture industries.

Education

Tim believes that we must improve access to quality education if we want to prepare students and workers for success in the modern economy. He supports smart investments in education — from early childhood education to college and workforce training — and has learned through years of experience in Virginia that no one path is right for everyone. Drawing from his years working in his dad’s ironworking shop and his experience teaching in Honduras, a key focus of Tim’s work in public service has been strengthening career and technical education (CTE) programs that teach students skills to succeed in high-demand, good-paying jobs.

Tim believes a well-educated population is the key to having the most talented nation on earth. Under Tim’s leadership as Governor, Virginia’s innovative investments in education turned the Commonwealth into a magnet for talent. Through decades of experience, Tim learned that a huge part of remaining an attractive location for emerging industries and expanding businesses is having a skilled workforce.

To return America to the top country in the world for education, Tim supports reforms like making Pre-K universal for all three and four year olds, strengthening our K-12 public schools, supporting high-quality teachers and school leaders, renewing our focus on career and technical education, and dramatically reducing the cost of college. As Governor, he expanded the number of children enrolled in Pre-K by nearly 40 percent and helped expand the number of college and university facilities in Virginia to attract top students and faculty. In 2007, under Tim’s leadership, Education Week ranked Virginia the state where a child was most likely to succeed.
In the Senate, Tim has made improving America’s education system a central focus of his work, playing an instrumental role in the bipartisan Senate education reform bill, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This legislation decreased the emphasis on standardized testing and gave states more flexibility. It also included provisions Tim wrote to help prevent sexual assault and improve access to K-12 career and technical education programs. Tim is a founder and co-chair of the Senate CTE Caucus, which promotes improving access to career and technical education programs to ensure students of all ages are prepared with the skills they need for the jobs of the 21st century. Tim knows that not everyone’s path to a successful career will or should go through a four-year college, and he is working to expand the critical role CTE and workforce training programs play in growing our economy. In addition to his provisions enacted into law, Tim has sponsored several pieces of legislation to raise the quality of CTE programs at schools in Virginia and across the country.

Tim is concerned about the overwhelming burden of student loan debt on millions of Americans, and he’s supported policies to expand access to affordable higher education, improve financial aid, offer loan forgiveness for public service workers, and help students understand their debt obligations upfront. An estimated 56% of Virginia college students graduate with student debt. Key parts of Tim’s legislation to give public servants like service members and teachers the debt relief they earned passed into law in 2018. And at Tim’s request, the Biden Administration implemented further reforms in 2021 to ensure that public servants are able to get the loan forgiveness they were promised and earned and he will continue pushing for solutions so Americans are not held back by mountains of debt.

Energy & Environment

Tim believes that America’s energy production should always be trending in the direction of a cleaner tomorrow than today.

From the Chesapeake Bay to the Cumberland Gap, Virginia’s great outdoors are a priceless treasure that Tim is determined to safeguard for future generations to enjoy. Tim has long been an outspoken leader in support of clean energy and policies to combat climate change. As Governor, Tim put in place the Commonwealth’s first comprehensive clean energy plan. Tim believes the country that won World War II and the race to put a man on the moon should be able to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. He supports investing in renewable energy, including offshore wind and solar, which would create new jobs and make Virginia a leader in clean energy development. Tim believes that by advancing an energy strategy that moves us from carbon-heavy to low-carbon, we can reduce pollution, bolster our national security, and create American jobs that cannot be outsourced.

After hearing concerns from local communities and the Department of Defense, Tim announced his opposition to opening Virginia’s coast to offshore oil and gas drilling. Tim has spoken out against offshore drilling, as it could threaten military assets in Hampton Roads as well as the environment and tourism industry.

Virginia faces a unique set of challenges because of its coastal exposure to sea level rise caused by climate change, and Tim is committed to reducing this risk. In the Senate, Tim has been a leader on efforts to combat sea level rise and flooding in Hampton Roads, which threaten readiness at local military installations and homes in the surrounding communities. Tim introduced the BUILD Resilience Act, which would spur investments in resilient infrastructure to reduce the risk of climate effects like flooding and extreme storms to communities like Hampton Roads. He has also introduced the EMBRACE Act to authorize the Department of Defense (DOD) to carry out stormwater management projects at military installations to improve resilience at the facilities while protecting waterways and stormwater impacted ecosystems, such as those that feed into the Chesapeake Bay. He has also been an advocate for protecting the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia’s National Parks like Shenandoah, its National Wildlife Refuges like Chincoteague, and its truly unique places like Tangier Island.

Tim respects the role coal production has historically played in traditional coal communities in Southwest Virginia, and as Governor, he supported the construction of the state-of-the-art Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center in Wise County, one of the most advanced clean coal plants in the United States. He recognizes the sacrifice coal miners have made over a lifetime of dangerous work, and he is fighting on behalf of them in the Senate so they receive their hard-earned pensions and health benefits. Tim has supported clean coal research funding that could help revitalize Southwest Virginia’s economy, and he has co-sponsored legislation to stimulate large-scale federal and private sector investment to reduce carbon pollution through advanced clean coal technologies.

Tim has also pushed for robust funding for heating assistance programs. He has continually joined colleagues of both parties to urge the President and Senate appropriators to boost funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), two programs that play an important role in providing vulnerable populations and low-income households with affordable home energy.

Transportation & Infrastructure

Tim supports major improvements to our nation’s infrastructure that would create jobs and improve daily life for families across Virginia. In the Senate, he has successfully pushed to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which makes a significant federal investment to improve roads, bridges, rail (including Metro), water, and broadband. The package also includes Tim’s legislation to expand skills training to ensure we have a workforce ready to fill the jobs to complete this infrastructure plan.

Tim has pushed for federal funding for transportation projects across the Commonwealth and has helped secure grants for major projects like the I-95 Atlantic Gateway multimodal project, a new interstate connector at Norfolk International Terminal, the long overdue replacement of the traffic-clogged Chesapeake Deep Creek Bridge, and rehabilitation of the I-64 Delta Frame Bridges.

Tim recognizes how vital Metro is to Northern Virginia and has pushed for reforms to improve Metro safety and service while making sure the federal government lives up to its funding commitments. Tim has worked to strengthen federal safety oversight authority over Metro, leading bipartisan legislation to enact the Metro Safety Commission, a tough new safety oversight body with the legal authority to mandate long overdue safety and operational changes to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). In 2017, Tim played a key role in securing $227 million to fix the aging Arlington Memorial Bridge, a critical investment for Northern Virginia commuters and visitors to Virginia and Washington, D.C. that saved the bridge from closing.

Many states would consider themselves fortunate to have either a major international airport or a major international seaport, but Virginia is blessed with both. Making the Port of Virginia and Dulles International Airport all that they can be has been a top priority of Tim’s. He has worked to advance transformative projects at the Port like the Craney Island Eastward Expansion, which will nearly double its cargo capacity, and dredging of Norfolk Harbor to depths that will attract the largest post-Panamax container ships. He has also worked to secure federal funds through HUD and the Army Corps of Engineers for flood-resilient infrastructure to protect the Port, Naval Station Norfolk, and Hampton Roads from sea level rise and recurrent flooding. At Dulles, he has teamed up with the Virginia delegation to secure funds for more Customs and Border Protection officers that will reduce long lines at customs and security, and he has pushed back against changes to the Reagan National slot and perimeter rule policies that would negatively impact Dulles and could increase airplane noise in the neighborhoods surrounding National.

As Governor of Virginia, Tim made infrastructure investment a top priority. He played a key role in making Metro’s Silver Line to Dulles a reality and advanced critical projects like the Norfolk Tide light-rail system and Amtrak service to Lynchburg, which in 2017 was extended to Roanoke. Tim understands that these are the kinds of smart investments that help our economy grow and thrive. He will continue being a strong advocate for fixing our roads, bridges, and rail systems to create jobs, improve the daily lives of commuters, and fuel economic growth in the Commonwealth.

Healthcare

Tim believes that health care is a right. He remains committed to protecting the Affordable Care Act and improving the health care system to give all Americans access to quality, affordable health care. As a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, he’s introduced legislation to give Americans more options for affordable health insurance, lower the cost of prescription drugs, and combat the opioid epidemic.

Tim supports giving Americans more options for affordable health insurance, and he has co-authored a proposal to do just that: Medicare-X. Medicare-X would create a low-cost public option for health care, available in every ZIP code, allowing Americans to choose between the existing private insurance plans or a public one. Medicare-X would build on the Medicare framework of doctors to establish a public insurance plan offered on the individual and small business health exchanges. The Medicare-X plan initially would be available in areas where there is a shortage of insurers or higher health care costs due to less competition—including rural communities—then expand to every ZIP code in the country.

Tim believes we must do more to lower health care costs while improving the quality of care through promoting preventive care and effectively using technology, like telehealth.
Tim is a strong supporter of Medicare and Medicaid — critical programs that provide health care and economic security to seniors, people with disabilities, and the most vulnerable Americans. He has been a vocal supporter of Medicaid expansion in Virginia, which provided hundreds of thousands of people with access to care.

He has also introduced bipartisan legislation to help combat Alzheimer’s disease and support caregivers who sacrifice so much to help their loved ones.

Tim has championed bipartisan legislation to fund pediatric cancer research, named in honor of Gabriella Miller of Loudoun County, a powerful advocate for pediatric research who passed away from a brain tumor at the age of 10. The bill became law in 2014 and has already provided $50 million for the Pediatric Research Initiative Fund.

Tim has led the fight to protect young people from harmful tobacco products and successfully passed legislation raising the federal tobacco purchase age from 18 to 21.

He has also introduced and successfully pushed for Senate passage of the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, legislation to prevent burnout, suicide, and mental and behavioral health issues among health care workers. The bill was named after a Charlottesville-born physician who died by suicide in April 2020 while working on the frontlines of the pandemic in New York. It was signed into law by President Biden on March 18, 2022.

Tim is also closely focused on the drug and opioid epidemic affecting communities across Virginia and the nation. From the coalfields in Southwest Virginia to the suburbs in Fairfax County, he has heard from families who have lost children to drug overdoses, law enforcement officers who are facing increases in drug-related crimes, and businesses who struggle to find workers who can pass a drug test. He has worked to pass legislation to help reduce opioid overdose deaths through improved access to the life-saving drug naloxone, and to incorporate job training into drug addiction recovery programs.

Global Affairs

National Security & Foreign Policy

As a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, Tim has been a leader on foreign policy and military issues in the Senate. He is committed to providing the best quality resources to our servicemembers and their families, protecting Americans from national security threats, and strengthening relationships with international partners.

Tim believes in striving for diplomatic solutions to conflicts and maintaining a commitment to our values of freedom, democracy, and human rights. He is committed to strengthening America’s national security through a balance of our military, economic, and diplomatic tools. In his role on the Armed Services Committee and as the father of a Marine, Tim believes there is no decision more serious than to send our troops into harm’s way, and his goal is to minimize the risk of unnecessary war and maximize the chance that the United States will decisively win any war we must fight.

Tim has been the leading voice in Congress raising concerns over Presidents’ efforts to expand the use of military force without congressional authorization. He has worked across the aisle to improve the way the President and Congress consult on matters of war and the initiation of U.S. military action. In February 2020, the Senate passed his bipartisan war powers resolution to prevent further escalation of hostilities with Iran without congressional authorization by a vote of 55-45. Tim has also introduced bipartisan legislation to revise the War Powers Resolution of 1973, repeal the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) that authorized the Iraq War, and replace the open-ended 2001 AUMF with a narrower authorization.

Through his role on the Armed Services Committee, Tim has discussed with senior military officials the need for a coherent U.S. cyber strategy in order to deter foreign adversaries from conducting cyber-attacks on the U.S. Tim has recognized that part of this strategy includes ensuring that we have a robust cyber workforce in place to defend the nation in both the private and public sectors. Virginia is a center for the nation’s cyber workforce, with the second highest concentration of tech workers in the U.S., the largest concentration of data centers in the world, and is home to key federal agencies. To help strengthen this critical workforce, Tim has introduced and passed into law several pieces of legislation—including the DoD Cyber Scholarship Program Act and the Cyber Scholarship Opportunities Act—to make more scholarships available for students, particularly at community colleges, in exchange for a service requirement in the cyber field for the government.

Virginia is one of the most militarily connected states in the country, and Tim knows that the Commonwealth plays a huge role in helping the nation meet our national security challenges. Tim is proud that Virginia is home to every service branch, including the largest naval station in the world, premier Army, Marine Corps and Air Force installations, and a robust Coast Guard presence. He has been instrumental in ensuring that our military installations have the resources they need to keep the country safe. Tim is committed to providing the best quality resources to servicemembers, military families, and veterans and has championed legislation to help remove barriers to employment for veterans and military spouses.

Governance

Voting Rights

Tim believes that voting is a fundamental right in our democracy that must be protected. He has long fought to protect voting rights and expand access to the ballot box.

He was extremely disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decisions in Shelby County v. Holder and Brnovich v. DNC to gut key provisions of the Voting Rights Act. For decades, the Voting Rights Act was responsible for dramatically increasing minority voting, and, in turn, minority representation. He has voiced concern that since the weakening of the law, many states have limited access to the ballot box by limiting weekend voting, closing voting locations, and stripping voter rolls.

In response, Tim led efforts to pass voting rights legislation in the Senate. He was a key negotiator of the Freedom to Vote Act, legislation he introduced to improve access to the ballot for Americans, advance commonsense election reforms, and protect our democracy from attacks. He is also an original cosponsor of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore safeguards against potential restrictive changes to voting rules.

Tim is also concerned about the use of partisan gerrymandering to disenfranchise minority voters and will continue be a strong advocate for nonpartisan redistricting.

Budget

Tim supports a smart and balanced approach to budgeting that funds our national defense, children’s health care, education, substance abuse prevention, and other key programs. He has become a leader in helping Congress come to bipartisan, multi-year spending agreements that fund these critical domestic priorities and the military.
Tim is a supporter of two-year budgeting, a process he used as Governor of Virginia, to help businesses and agencies plan ahead and save money. Since taking office, Tim has raised concerns about the negative effects crisis-to-crisis budgeting has on the nation’s economy. Senator Kaine has introduced legislation to end the threat of future government shutdowns and the senseless pain they inflict on federal employees. In 2019, Senator Kaine secured passage of legislation to guarantee back pay as soon as possible for federal workers who go without a paycheck during government shutdowns. Tim believes fiscal policy should not be determined by political brinksmanship, and he opposes across-the-board cuts that hurt key priorities like education and health care, hampering our economic growth. Tim will continue to fight back against any efforts to slash funding for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security — programs that offer a critical lifeline for seniors, people with disabilities, and the most vulnerable Americans. Tim is committed to finding common ground on budget reforms that strengthen the economy and improve our nation’s fiscal outlook over the long run. Tim supports reforms to the tax code that put middle-class families and small businesses first. He is pushing for legislation to close loopholes that allow large corporations and millionaires and billionaires to pay lower tax rates than working families.

Human Rights

Civil Rights

As a former civil rights attorney, Tim has spent his career fighting for the rights of all Americans. He and his wife Anne have dedicated their careers to making Virginia a place that provides equal opportunity for everyone, and he’ll keep fighting in Congress until the federal government ensures equal voting rights, equal pay, and protection against discrimination no matter one’s race, sex, nation of origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or age.

As Senator, Tim has pushed to ensure the protection of fundamental freedoms for all Americans. He has worked to protect minority groups from discrimination in housing, the workplace, and education. He is committed to ensuring equal treatment for all Americans under the law. Concerned by the lack of recognition of African American history, Tim led efforts to propose a commission commemorating 400 years of African American history in the United States. Tim partnered with the NAACP, Congressman Bobby Scott, and a bipartisan group of Senators to announce legislation to create this commission, which passed into law in 2017.

As Governor, he promoted equal protection by banning discrimination against state employees on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, political affiliation, veteran status or disability.

Women’s Rights

Tim has been a strong voice for women’s equality. He believes we must permanently end a culture where a woman who speaks out faces doubt or retribution about experiences with sexism, harassment, and assault. Tim has pledged his support for women everywhere who fear coming forward. He has called on the Senate to hold hearings on sexual harassment and assault in the workplace and successfully called for the public release of data on the Senate’s sexual harassment claims and settlements.

Tim believes our nation is not doing nearly enough to address the fact that women still do not have an equal role in many areas of our society. Tim co-sponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act because he strongly believes men and women must be paid equally for the same work. The current inequity amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars lost over a woman’s lifetime. As every dollar counts for families trying to make ends meet, gender-based discrimination harms the well-being of families and households — which depend on the wages of working mothers as well as working fathers — across the country.

He also co-sponsored the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which was signed into law in 2013 and remains a consistent supporter of reauthorization efforts. As Lieutenant Governor and Governor, he made it a priority to update laws on sexual violence and improve the treatment of survivors.

Tim supports the constitutional right of women to make their own reproductive choices. He opposes efforts to weaken Roe v. Wade and defund Planned Parenthood, an organization that 30,000 Virginians rely on for health care. He is a cosponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act to protect and strengthen women’s access to abortion services and codify Roe v. Wade’s protections. He is also an original cosponsor of legislation to restore the contraceptive coverage requirement guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act.

Public Safety

Criminal Justice Reform

Tim has worked hard to improve the criminal justice system and strengthen police relationships with local communities. He is concerned about persisting racial inequalities in the criminal justice system and believes Congress must do more to address them. In the Senate, Tim has supported the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, a bipartisan compromise bill to reduce over-incarceration and improve community safety by reforming “three-strike” laws and expanding access to rehabilitation and reentry programs. Tim believes our nation must improve the way it treats mental illness and addiction so those who need treatment do not end up in local jails that lack the resources necessary to deliver care.

Tim believes that by investing in education and skills-training opportunities for those in the federal, state, and local prison systems, society can help reduce repeat offenses and give formerly incarcerated individuals a chance at a successful life. He is an advocate for drug courts and programs that emphasize treatment over incarceration for non-violent drug offenders. He has also worked to strengthen financial protections for men and women seeking to reenter society after leaving prison, urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to protect inmates from predatory practices.

Preventing Gun Violence

Tim is a strong supporter of commonsense steps to reduce gun violence. In the Senate, he has been a leading voice calling on his colleagues to listen to the overwhelming majority of Americans and finally pass legislation that will make communities safer.

Tim and Senator Warner introduced the Virginia Plan to Reduce Gun Violence Act, a comprehensive package that would enact the commonsense gun safety provisions passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 2020 at the federal level. Tim voted to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, landmark legislation to reduce gun violence, which was signed into law in June 2022. The bill included similar provisions from his Virginia Plan, such as improving background checks, strengthening safeguards for victims of domestic violence, and incentivizing states to implement laws to temporarily remove firearms from individuals who pose a high risk of harming themselves or others.

Tim has also cosponsored legislation to hold gun manufacturers accountable and close loopholes that allow domestic abusers to legally obtain weapons. Tim supported changes that were passed into law to strengthen the background record check system and allow the CDC to conduct research on gun violence, but he believes Congress must take further action.

As Governor, Tim helped strengthen the background record check system following the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech. As Mayor of Richmond, he helped bring down the city’s rate of gun violence and homicide. Tim has met with students, parents, and teachers across Virginia to listen to their concerns about gun violence, and he will continue calling for legislation that addresses this epidemic.

Veterans & Military Families

Tim has made it a top priority in the Senate to support veterans, servicemembers, and their families. He’s been a leader on efforts to reduce unemployment for veterans and military spouses and ensure those who serve our nation receive the health care and benefits they were promised.

There is no state more closely connected to the military than Virginia. The map of the Commonwealth is rich with military history: Yorktown, Appomattox, the Pentagon, and more than 20 military installations. With over 700,000 veterans residing in the Commonwealth, Virginia has one of the highest state populations of veterans in America. Tim has fought to ensure veterans receive timely access to good health care and benefits. He has introduced legislation to improve veterans’ access to care, help Vietnam veterans harmed by Agent Orange, and address serious problems facing the Department of Veterans Affairs. He has also introduced a bill to address opioid overmedication that affects veterans struggling with pain medication so that they can receive safer, more effective pain management services through the VA.

The first piece of legislation Tim introduced in the Senate – the Troop Talent Act of 2013 – was a bill to ease the transition for servicemembers into the civilian workforce. After hearing from veterans across Virginia who could not get hired despite expertise they had gained through military training, Tim wrote this bipartisan bill to help address the challenge. The Troop Talent Act helped align the skills servicemembers acquired in the military with certifications or licenses to make it easier for them to be hired in the civilian workforce. Key provisions of the Troop Talent Act have been signed into law. Tim has also introduced legislation to improve the quality of educational programs for servicemembers and veterans to help them compete and succeed in the workforce after their service.

Tim believes Congress has a duty to support military families, who sacrifice so much for the nation. After meeting with military families across Virginia, Tim learned that one of the biggest concerns facing military spouses is the toll frequent moves and unexpected transfers have on a spouse’s ability to find work and maintain a career. Tim recognizes that this causes financial insecurity for families, hurting our troops’ ability to do their jobs. To help tackle the problem, Tim has introduced several bills—including the Military Spouse Employment Act and the Jobs and Childcare for Military Families Act—to reduce military spouse unemployment and support military families. Key provisions of these bills have been passed and signed into law. Tim believes that by expanding hiring and career opportunities, improving access to continuing education programs, ensuring military families can find affordable child care, and providing better transition and employment resources for military spouses, Congress can better ensure the military is ready to accomplish its mission.

Immigration

Tim is proud that the United States is a nation of immigrants. Since the nation’s founding, those who have come to this country from around the world have been integral to our society. Virginia is home to over one million immigrants, making up 13% of the Commonwealth’s population. Immigrants also constitute 17% of Virginia’s workforce. Their skills and hard work are critical in ensuring that the United States and our Commonwealth continue to grow and prosper.

Tim knows that for far too long, our outdated and broken immigration system has kept millions of people who contribute to the United States living in the shadows of our society.

In 2013, Tim supported the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill, bipartisan legislation that would have created a better legal immigration system to meet America’s labor and family needs, enhance border security, and create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Tim delivered the Senate’s first ever floor speech in Spanish making the case for this comprehensive bill.

Tim has also been a leading voice in Congress on the importance of protecting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients who are living in the U.S. after being displaced by dangerous conditions in their home countries. Over 22,000 TPS holders live in Virginia as of March 2021. Tim has cosponsored legislation to give TPS recipients the opportunity to become permanent residents of the United States.

Tim is committed to ensuring that Dreamers can keep contributing to the nation that they grew up in and love. He has called on the Biden Administration to take meaningful action to address the processing delays and backlog for DACA program applicants. Tim is also a strong supporter of the Dream Act, which would protect Dreamers from deportation and create a path to citizenship.