Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) at a campaign stop on Monday defended President Joe Biden after his poor debate performance provoked calls for the 81-year-old president to end his reelection campaign and allow a younger candidate to face former President Donald Trump in November.
Kaine confirmed he continues to support the 81-year-old president after Petersburg Vice Mayor Darrin Hill called for Democrats to “turn down the noise” about Biden’s candidacy, reported USA Today.
“The bottom line is, Joe Biden is our president. He’s a patriotic American. He’s done a good job. He puts others first, not himself,” Kaine said at a political event in Petersburg, Virginia, the outlet reported.
Kaine then noted Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, which the senator described as “existential.” He then claimed Biden has “racked up a great record as president.”
When pressed to respond to recent calls for Biden to call off his campaign, Kaine claimed such calls are solely coming from newsrooms.
“It’s the pundits, it’s the editorial writers,” claimed Kaine. He noted, “Not one of those calls have come from Virginia.”
Just one day after Kaine made the remarks, Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-37) became the first sitting U.S. congressman to call for Biden to step aside. Also on Tuesday, former Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio suggested Biden’s “deeply troubling” debate performance should compel the president to pass the baton to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Republican U.S. Senate nominee Hung Cao, meanwhile, wrote in a post to the social media platform X, “Biden is not fit for office.” Cao (pictured above, right) further pledged, “In November, we will flip Virginia red!”
After the debate concluded, the Republican referenced Kaine’s previous acknowledgment that he would be on the same Democratic ticket as Biden.
“You sure are a ticketmate of Joe Biden, buddy,” he said.
Cao continued, “we’re not going to let anybody forget it.”
Agreeing with Governor Glenn Youngkin’s analysis, Cao also called Biden “weak,” “dishonest,” and a “failure.”
“Biden and Kaine are going to lose Virginia this November,” declared Cao.
Cao previously challenged Representative Jennifer Wexton (D-VA-10) in the 2022 elections when he lost by about 19,000 votes. At the time, Cao told The Virginia Star his top priorities were cutting spending and stabilizing the economy, which he said was “spiraling out of control.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Tim Kaine” by Tim Kaine. Photo “Hung Cao” by Hung Cao. Background Photo “Voting Booths” by Tim Evanson. CC BY-SA 2.0.
