Tim Kaine: What You Need to Know

On Tuesday, Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Kaine meets his Republican counterpart, Mike Pence, in a 90-minute debate. Here's what you need to know about the man who could be "one heartbeat away from the presidency."

Before earning the nod as Hillary Clinton's running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., was reportedly on Obama's short-list of vice presidential nominees in 2008.

It's no surprise--Sen. Kaine is a popular figure in a crucial swing state. And maybe that's not the only reason he's been considered as an asset to a national ticket...  During Kaine's long political career, he has never lost an election.

Name: Timothy Michael Kaine
Age: 58
Previous Elected Experience:

• Mayor, Richmond, Virginia (1998-2001)
• Lieutenant Governor, Virginia (2002-2006)
• Governor, Virginia (2006-2010)
• U.S. Senator, Virginia (2013-Present)

Matter of Faith:

• Tim Kaine is a practicing Roman Catholic who attend a predominantly African-American church in Richmond, Va. He attended an all-boys Jesuit high school in Kansas City and worked with Jesuit missionaries in Honduras. He once told a website that "my faith is central to everything I do," and added in a separate interview "I do what I do for spiritual reasons."

On the Issues:

• Abortion: Kaine says he has a "faith-based opposition to abortion" although he supports a women's right to choose. As governor, he pledged to reduce the number of abortions by promoting adoption and abstinence-focused education. As senator, he has been a "strong advocate for reproductive health and rights" and has a 100 percent rating on the Planned Parenthood Action Fund scorecard.
• Economy:  As Virginia's governor, Kaine presided over a period of economic growth that outpaced the national average. During his tenure as governor, Virginia was named the Best State of Business in America. As a senator, he was one of just 13 Senate Democrats to give President Obama the authority to negotiate trade deals, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
• Education: When he was Virginia's governor, Kaine expanded childhood education, saying "education was a key to everything we wanted to achieve as a state and it is the key to everything we want to achieve as a nation." He supports the idea of debt-free college, opposed No Child Left Behind, and signed the state up to support Common Core.
• Environment: Tim Kaine has supported off-shore drilling, and also opposed the Keystone XL pipeline. Additionally, his administration approved a coal plant that came online in 2012, one of the last coal plants in the country. Kaine also instituted Virginia's first-ever climate change commission and is an advocate for clean, renewable energy production.
• Guns: Tim Kaine has been working to curb gun violence since his time as the mayor of Richmond. He has supported various forms of gun control, including an unsuccessful push for a state law requiring background checks on sales at gun shows. That push came in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, which at the time was the largest mass shooting in American history. The National Rifle Association gave Kaine an "F" rating for his stance on guns, even though he says that he "strongly supports the Second Amendment".
• Health Care: Tim Kaine is a supporter of the "Affordable Care Act" and has pushed for Medicaid Expansion. A year after the Virginia Tech shooting, he signed a $42 million package to overhaul the state's mental health system. He also backed a bill that banned smoking in bars and restaurants, and incited controversy by requiring all girls be vaccinated for the human papillomavirus before enrolling in high school.
• Immigration: Tim Kaine has vowed that the Clinton administration would begin work on "comprehensive immigration reform in the first 100 days" in office. Kaine also supported the DREAM act, which offers legal residence to undocumented children. He supports enhanced border security and a path to legailzation for those here unlawfully. During his time as a law student, Kaine spent nine months in Honduras helping Jesuit missionairies, and, as such, he is fluent in Spanish.
• Individual Rights: As a lawyer, Tim Kaine specialized in housing-discrimination cases and won a multimillion dollar lawsuit against Nationwide Insurance for refusing to offer insurance to black homeowners in majority-black neighborhoods. Kaine came out in favor of marriage equality in 2013, after opposing same-sex marriages and civil unions years earlier. As a Catholic, Kaine believes that his Church will likely "follow suit" and reverse its long-standing opposition to same-sex marrage.

Want more?  Sen. Tim Kaine and two of his colleagues spoke with Jennifer Wishon about the role their faith plays as elected leaders.

Sen. Tim Kaine meets with Gov. Mike Pence in Tuesday's vice presidential debate, Oct. 4 at 9 p.m. ET. Bookmark CBNNews.com for the latest news and updates.

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