Ranking Member, Senate Armed Services (SASC) Subcommittee on Seapower

Senator Tim Kaine, D-Virginia

Responsibilities

During the 119th Republican-controlled Congress, Kaine segued from chair to ranking member of the Senate Seapower Subcommittee. Its legislative purpose is to oversee Navy and Marine Corps planning, operations policy and programs, less space, plus cyber, nuclear weapons, and special operations, among other responsibilities.

Quote

“One of my top priorities this year as Seapower ranking member is to make reforms to address construction and maintenance delays and get our naval programs back on track.” 

Committees

• Member of: Subcommittee on Readiness Management Support; Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities; Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism: and Subcommittee on the State Department and USAID Management, International Operations and Bilateral International Development. 
• Ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights and Global Women’s Issues. His priorities are to “address migration, counter narcotics smuggling, and advance democratic institutions and the rule of law across the hemisphere.” Served as chair for the 118th Congress. 
• Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. A lifelong advocate for affordable education, he co-introduced bipartisan legislation offering short-term job training programs through the federal Pell Grants in 2025, saying, “No one should be priced out of an education—including a technical education.“ The legislation is called the Jumpstarting Our Businesses by Supporting Students (JOBS) Act.
• Co-founded the Senate Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, among others. Serves now as co-chair.

Political/Professional Career 

• Elected to the US Senate in 2013. Became the Democratic nominee for vice president alongside Hillary Clinton in 2016.
• Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 through 2011. 
• Virginia governor from 2006 to 2010. 
• Lieutenant governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006.
• Mayor of Richmond from 1998 to 2001.
• First elected as a city council member in 1994.
• Worked as a lawyer for 17 years in Richmond, specializing in fair housing law. He also taught law at the University of Richmond.  
• During his early public service career, he was involved in several non-profits, including a technical school founded by Jesuit missionaries in Honduras where he trained teenagers in carpentry and welding skills.

 Education

• University of Missouri – BA in Economics in 1979.
• Harvard Law School – JD degree in 1983.

Personal 

• Born Feb. 26, 1958, in Saint Paul, Minn., to Mary Kathleen, née Burns, and Albert Kaine, Jr. Grew up in Overland Park, Kan., where his father owned a small iron-working shop.
• Met his future wife, Anne Holton, in law school. The two were married in 1984 and together, have three children. Like her husband, Anne is a lawyer and longtime advocate of affordable education, with a history of public service/policy. She is the daughter of A. Linwood Holton Jr., who was the governor of Virginia in the 1970s.