Tim Kaine, former governor of Virginia and former Democratic National Committee chair, emphasized the importance of upcoming state and federal elections at a University Democrats-sponsored breakfast with Brian Moran, chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, Saturday.
After mingling with about 50 students and sharing refreshments from local restaurants, Kaine delivered a short speech focusing on Virginia's exciting political atmosphere.
"I think it's been a time of great change in this state," Kaine said. "Virginia is going to be a battleground state ... and that means you win some and lose some, but I think it's going to be a very exciting next few years."
In April, several months after current Democratic Virginia Senator Jim Webb announced he would not be running for re-election, Kaine announced his intention to run for the seat.
"I'm excited about the race," Kaine said. "It's going to be a tough one; it's going to be a challenging one, but it's going to be a thrilling one."
Touching on the Virginia state elections coming up later this year, Kaine emphasized the impact of state and local elections on the overall political atmosphere.
"With a very Republican House of Delegates and a very Republican governor, the Democratic Senate provides a crucial balance," Kaine said. "If we hold on to the Senate in the upcoming election, that would be seen as a really great night."
Moran spoke about voters' ability to greatly affect state and local elections.
"The turnout sometimes is light in smaller elections, but local elections impact every citizen of Virginia," Moran said. "[Virginia Attorney General] Ken Cuccinelli in the 2007 state Senate election won by 90 votes. Imagine how differently the attorney general race two years ago would have been if we had generated 91 more votes in 2007. Your vote, and the community's vote, is key."
During a short question and answer period, Kaine and Moran responded to questions varying in topics from abortion and equality rights to Second Amendment policies and campaign strategies for the upcoming elections.
Afterward, students took pictures with Kaine and Moran and were able to ask any last minute questions before they departed for other campaign events.
Third-year Engineering student Chris Jones said the opportunity to see the two politicians at the beginning of election season was worth getting up early.
"We've got huge elections coming up this year, and we've got two guys at the forefront of those processes here," Jones said. "Labor Day weekend is the beginning of the whole campaign season, and I think Kaine said we're the only university he is visiting over the weekend"
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