Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) won reelection in the Commonwealth of Virginia on Tuesday night, defeating Republican challenger Hung Cao.
Kaine’s seat was considered relatively safe, although Republicans were emboldened in the final weeks of the campaign. Democrats moved money to the state in the weeks before the election as Vice President Kamala Harris’s polling faltered.
Harris prevailed in the state as well, although her tight margins rightfully suggested trouble for Democrats.
That strategy might be questioned by political historians, although with Trump headed for an electoral romp, its difficult to see how Democrats could have stopped a Trump victory.
The commonwealth has shifted towards Democrats in recent elections, but Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s victory in 2021 and polling gains by Donald Trump in the final weeks of the campaign gave Republicans hope.
Youngkin ran against “wokeness” in schools, an issue Trump embraced in 2024.
That strategy was one of many pieces that helped deliver Trump a victory for the ages.
Ultimately, Republican hopes in Virginia were dashed against the state’s fast-growing Washington DC suburbs, although Republicans have secured the Senate and appear to possibly secure a larger majority.
” Virginia is not blue, if anything it’s purple,” Cao tweeted Tuesday night. “Let’s face it, just as I think it’s insurmountable right now for us to win, I believe it’s also insurmountable for Kamala Harris to win.”
Cao’s prediction was confirmed within hours.
Kaine made a surprise cameo on Saturday Night Live just days before Election Day:
Kaine stumped “SNL” host John Mulaney in a quiz show sketch “What’s That Name: Election Edition,” when Mulaney’s character was challenged to identify him.
“You voted for me to be one heartbeat away from the Oval Office in an election more recent than the release of ‘Zootopia.’ What’s my name?” Kaine said.
Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s running mate in 2016, was first elected in to the Senate in 2012. He previously chaired the Democratic National Committee after serving as Virginia’s governor.
The retired Navy Captain came to the United States as a refugee as a child in 1975. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in Virginia in 2022.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
