Speaking to his hometown newspaper, the Richmond Times Dispatch, Tim Kaine gave a very blunt answer when asked if he would consider putting his hat in the ring for 2020.
“Nope.”
The Virginia senator’s spokesperson confirmed this statement following the interview, adding that he was not at all interested in running for president in 2020. He is solely focused on his 2018 re-election bid in Old Dominion and nothing else.
Senator Kaine spoke a lot on his future plans to the Richmond Times.
“I want to be John Warner,” Kaine said, referring to the Virginia Republican who served Virginia in the Senate for 30 years, finished his public service career in the chamber, and did not seek the White House.“That is a hubristic statement – I’m not going to be John Warner… I would really like to model myself after him and serve for a long period of time,” he added, in his first sit-down interview following his defeat last week as Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential running mate.
Kaine was widely believed by most analysts to be the next vice president. The outcome proved most polls wrong. Kaine carried his home state, but it was embarrassingly close. Both Kaine and Hillary Clinton have not spoken to the media much since their shocking loss. Clinton may be done with politics for good, but Kaine is looking to serve in the upper chamber for years to come.