Richmond, VA — Senator Tim Kaine barnstormed across Virginia during Labor Day weekend while Hung Cao ducked speaking to Virginians at the Buena Vista Labor Day Festival.
Senator Kaine visited Harrisonburg, Buena Vista, Newport News, Alexandria, Sterling, Manassas, and Richmond.
Read more below:
Roanoke Times: Cao opts out of speech — and Kaine meeting — after Labor Day parade
Payton Williams
September 2, 2024
Buena Vista’s 53rd Labor Day Festival saw a few jabs traded between Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and his Republican opponent, retired Navy Capt. Hung Cao, but the two did not have their forecast first meeting.
Cao, who spoke at the GOP Labor Day Breakfast and marched in the town’s annual parade Monday, did not stay for the political speeches that followed, saying he had a separate parade to attend. He could not recall where the next parade was, and his campaign spokesman did not respond to a request regarding the location.Cao said he intended to meet Kaine for the first time at their Oct. 2 debate at Norfolk State University.
“I look forward to speaking to him then,” Cao said. “Well, not so much speaking with him as at him.”
Kaine remarked on Cao’s absence during his speech at the Glen Maury Park Pavilion later in the day. “I had hoped to meet my opponent today,” Kaine said. “I have not met my opponent yet. He was invited to speak to you all today, but he decided he had better things to do.”
WSET: Virginia leaders kick off fall election season at 53rd annual Labor Fest in Buena Vista
Rachel Branning
September 2, 2024
Senator Tim Kaine’s opponent, Hung Cao, marched in the parade but left before the speeches. Kaine noted that he still hasn’t met Cao, and he was looking forward to sharing the stage with him Monday.
WDBJ: Labor Day events in Buena Vista kick off fall campaign season in Virginia
Joe Dashiell
September 2, 2024
Candidates on the November ballot included Senator Tim Kaine, running for re-election, and his Republican challenger Hung Cao.
Cao left before the speeches, a fact Kaine highlighted in his remarks.
“Hung Cao called Staunton Podunk. Maybe he thinks that Buena Vista is Podunk,” Kaine said. “Buena Vista is just great, and if you want to represent Virginians you should show up for Virginians in every part of the state.”
Cao attended a Republican breakfast before the parade and he responded to Kaine’s criticism that he doesn’t care about rural Virginia.
WFXR: Buena Vista Labor Day Celebration encourages Virginians to vote this November
Zoe Mowery
September 3, 2024
Senator Tim Kaine said that Labor Day is the start of the home stretch of election season, and one of the final times candidates can talk face-to-face with Virginian voters.
“Having both teams on the same platform, and a Republican Governor, the democratic senator,” said Senator Time Kaine. “These are good events and there are not a lot of them these days, so I like events like this where ya know there’s some good natured competition, but it stays good natured.”
Senator Kaine is running for re-election. His opponent, republican Hung Cao, took part in the Buena Vista parade but did not give a speech later.
News Virginian: Jeers for Youngkin, early exit for Cao in Buena Vista this Labor Day
Payton Williams
September 2, 2024
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff rallied with Virginia Democrats at U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott’s annual Labor Day cookout in Newport News on Monday, while Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine and his Republican opponent, retired Navy Capt. Hung Cao, traded a few jabs at Buena Vista’s 53rd Labor Day festival, but the two did not have their forecast first meeting.
Labor Day marks the traditional kickoff of the sprint to Election Day in Virginia, though it’s now an election season, with early voting beginning on Sept. 20.
In Buena Vista, Cao, who spoke at the GOP Labor Day breakfast and marched in the town’s annual parade, did not stay for the political speeches that followed, saying he had a separate parade to attend. He could not recall where the next parade was, and his campaign spokesman did not respond to a request regarding the location.
Cao said he intends to meet Kaine for the first time at their Oct. 2 debate at Norfolk State University.
“I look forward to speaking to him then,” Cao said. “Well, not so much speaking with him as at him.”
Kaine remarked on Cao’s absence during his speech at the Glen Maury Park Pavilion later in the day.
“I had hoped to meet my opponent today,” Kaine said. “I have not met my opponent yet. He was invited to speak to you all today, but he decided he had better things to do.”
WAVY: SG Doug Emhoff delivers speech at Bobby Scott’s annual Labor Day cookout
Brian Reese
September 3, 2024
Sen. Tim Kaine and other elected leaders also spoke at the event. Kaine, in an interview with 10 On Your Side’s Andy Fox, reiterated Emhoff’s point about not getting distracted by any attacks.
“It is important,” Kaine said. “There’s going to be a lot in the last 60 days of just junk and name-calling, and politics has gotten that way, but Kamala is very disciplined. And I saw this working with her on maternal mortality issues in the Senate when I was on the Health Committee. She challenged us, assembled a coalition — Democrats and Republicans — to get some good things done to deal with those significant problems that she cared about, and I did too. I saw that drive and determination, and I saw the focus that she’s not going to get distracted with things that don’t matter.”
Kaine said Harris has an effective message that she can use to counter claims by Republicans that she’s weak on the economy.
“So what you say is [the U.S. has] the lowest unemployment rate in a very long time,” Kaine said, “stock market nearly through the roof, so your 401k’s are doing well. The uninsured rate is the lowest it’s ever been in American history, manufacturing’s up, we’re doing infrastructure and building again.
We’ve got more to do, but our economy is the strongest of any in the world coming out of COVID, and it’s because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who have embraced a make, build, growth philosophy. We’re going to make it here, we’re going to build it here and we’re going to grow it here.” Meanwhile, Harris campaigned in Detroit and Pittsburgh with Biden, their first campaign events together since Harris replaced Biden at the top of the ticket.
Vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and his wife Gwen spent Labor Day in Milwaukee, The Hill reported.
Kaine said the message going into the home stretch of the campaign is this:
“The lasting message from today is, we’re in the home stretch,” Kaine said. “Virginia starts voting on Sept. 20, less than three weeks away, and we need everybody to be energized — the size of the crowd as well as the age of the crowd told me that we’ve got energy and we have unity.”
Rocktown Now: Senator Tim Kaine visits The Valley
Mario Rerosi
September 2, 2024
Virginia U-S Senator Tim Kaine visited the Friendly City Sunday evening.
He was the guest at the Harrisonburg Labor Day dinner held at the JMU Festival Conference.
Kaine is running for re-election in November and the latest polls show him with an 11-percentage point lead over his Republican challenger Hung Cao.
Kaine will be Beuna Vista Monday morning visiting with fellow Democrats at Parry McCleur High School before participating in the annual Buena Vista Labor Day Parade.
WHSV: Democratic candidates Tim Kaine and others gather in Harrisonburg
Mason Willett
September 2, 2024
In Harrisonburg Sunday evening, Democratic candidates from around the state gathered for the Harrisonburg Democrats Labor Day Dinner.
Candidates included Mayor Deanna Reed, Senator Tim Kaine, House of Representatives candidate Ken Mitchell and several others. Kaine said the Shenandoah Valley is important to his campaign, not just because of his past work in the area, but especially after recent comments from his opponent Hung Cao, who called a local Staunton newspaper a ‘Podunk Paper.’
“My wife and I spent our honeymoon in Staunton. There’s nothing podunk about Staunton; if you want to represent all of Virginia, you’ve got to show up for all of Virginia,” Kaine said.
Kaine said with the election around the corner, Labor Day weekend would become the final big stretch for campaigns.
“This is my 11th campaign, from Richmond City Council in 1994 to now, but Labor Day is always really exciting, because you feel like the home stretch starts,” Kaine said. “We’ve been campaigning all year long, [and we’ve] probably done 150 or more events, but when you get to Labor Day, you can see the finish line.”
ACB 13: Gwen Walz headlines ‘Educators for Harris-Walz’ event in Manassas, Va.
Nick Minock
August 30, 2024
Kaine also spoke during the Educators for Harris-Walz rally in Manassas.“We don’t need tiplines. We don’t need telling teachers what they can’t do. How about celebrating what teachers can do!” Sen. Kaine said.
WUSA9: Gwen Walz at first campaign event in Virginia: ‘Mr. Vance, how about you mind your own business’
Matthew Torres
August 30, 2024
“Coming to Manassas, to Prince William, at the beginning of the school year shows Virginia is important and it shows the education issues are really going to be an important feature of the campaign,” U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, said.
Staunton News Leader: Gwen Walz uses ‘teacher voice’ to send a message to JD Vance at Virginia campaign event
Elizabeth Beyer
August 30, 2024
Signs that read “Harris Walz” and “Kaine 2024” were plastered on the walls and speakers stood against a mosaic of campaign signs cut into the shape of Virginia. Attendees held blue signs that said, “Thank you educators” and “AFT Harris Walz 2024.”
Virginia U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, who is up for re-election, addressed the crowd along with Anne Holton, former Virginia Secretary of Education, Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton, Alyce Pope, a member of the National Education Association [NEA] union and Marquis Smalls, a member of the American Federation of Teachers [AFT] union.
Kaine, who’s seeking reelection to a third term this year, spoke about his experience working with Harris in her roles as both senator and vice president.
Kaine works on the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee in the Senate, also called the HELP committee. The senator said when Harris became a senator, despite not being a member of the HELP committee, she was passionate about the topic of maternal mortality in America. Kaine and he and Harris worked closely with other committee members to try to create a bill to help tackle that issue.
“We have worked patiently and persistently under her leadership as senator, but also as vice president, to make huge advances and begin to bring down unacceptable rates of maternal mortality,” Kaine said.
Harris ultimately cast a tie-breaking vote as vice president to extend Medicaid coverage for low-income moms who deliver babies.
“Before Kamala Harris, if a low-income child was born, that low income child would get Medicaid and get pediatric care … but the mom’s Medicaid would cut off after 60 days. Because of Kamala and her tie-breaking vote and her advocacy, we now cover mother’s post-delivery for a full year,” Kaine said.
“So what do I know about Kamala Harris?” Kaine quipped, “Identify a problem, gather the stakeholders, challenge us all not to go small, go big, persist. Get something done, get a result.”
Inside NoVA: Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz hits the campaign trail in Manassas, focuses on education
Emily Seymour
August 30, 2024
“Public schools are the foundation of our democracy, and that is why I am so delighted, along with I know everyone in the room that the Harris-Waltz campaign is centering [on] public education,” said Anne Holton, Virginia’s former first lady and former Virginia secretary of education. Holton is the wife of U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, who also delivered remarks at the event.
Kaine, who’s seeking reelection to a third term this year, spoke about his experience working with Harris in her roles as both senator and vice president.
Kaine works on the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee in the Senate, also called the HELP committee. The senator said when Harris became a senator, despite not being a member of the HELP committee, she was passionate about the topic of maternal mortality in America. Kaine and he and Harris worked closely with other committee members to try to create a bill to help tackle that issue.
“We have worked patiently and persistently under her leadership as senator, but also as vice president, to make huge advances and begin to bring down unacceptable rates of maternal mortality,” Kaine said.
Harris ultimately cast a tie-breaking vote as vice president to extend Medicaid coverage for low-income moms who deliver babies.
“Before Kamala Harris, if a low-income child was born, that low income child would get Medicaid and get pediatric care … but the mom’s Medicaid would cut off after 60 days. Because of Kamala and her tie-breaking vote and her advocacy, we now cover mother’s caopost-delivery for a full year,” Kaine said.
“So what do I know about Kamala Harris?” Kaine quipped, “Identify a problem, gather the stakeholders, challenge us all not to go small, go big, persist. Get something done, get a result.”
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