“America’s Dad,” Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) officially kicked off his 2018 campaign on Monday in Richmond where he first started his lengthy political career. He told the crowd of supporters at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School in the capital city that for a successful senatorial campaign and a successful America, he must win the “economic argument.”
“I’m planning on winning the economic argument in this race,” Kaine said. “I was a mayor that was doing economic development deals, I was a governor in a state that was one of the best states in this country for business. I know more about the Virginia economy and how to make it work than any of the people running against me,” he said according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The former Richmond City Councilman, Mayor, Virginia Governor, vice presidential nominee, and current Senator will face the winner of the June 12 Republican primary: Iraq combat veteran Delegate Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper), former lieutenant governor nominee E.W. Jackson, and Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors Corey Stewart.
As he makes his rounds to nearly two dozen cities over the next week, Kaine believes his economic message will reign supreme compared to what he dealt with during the Clinton campaign. Kaine explained that the Clinton campaign, “had really good plans, but they don’t communicate as immediately,” he said, snapping his fingers in front of the crowd. “You’ve got to communicate immediately.”
Although he is fairly popular in the Old Dominion, campaigning as a resistance-happy anti-Trumpian progressive will not be his key to victory – even he knows that. Therefore, what exactly is the economic message Kaine will be touting?
He claims Democrats need to buckle down in their support of government investment in, “people, education, immigration, workforce training.” Kaine explained, “More investments in public infrastructure, road, rail, broadband, sewage treatment, school renovation. And wage policy,” will be a message that resonates with Virginia voters, according to The Washington Post.
Interestingly enough, Kaine is taking is economic message directly from President Donald Trump, albeit without the notion of fewer government regulations.
The Virginia Senator has called for the expansion of the Port of Virginia which, as one of the biggest hubs on the Atlantic Seaboard, has both national and international economic implications. Governor Ralph Northam recently met with President Trump about widening and dredging the channel so waterway traffic can be less congested and welcome more containers ship.
Responding to Northam’s charge to the port construction, President Trump replied, “Just put it on the list. Put it high on the list.”
In Trump’s initial infrastructure proposal, he has asked Congress for $200 billion to improve roadways, railways, bridges, and general infrastructure projects. Moreover, $20 billion of the funds will be allotted to expand digital networks in rural areas like Southside and Southwest Virginia.
Insofar as Kaine says more investment needs to be made in workforce training, Republican Congressman Scott Taylor (VA-2) has urged the Trump Administration to invest in education for Americans. Teamed with the infrastructure initiative, Trump is looking into offering Pell Grants to citizens in efforts to guide people towards high-demand fields in the private sector.
To bolster both infrastructure projects and the American people, the infrastructure funding will also utilize public-private partnerships, or P3s, something that Kaine Democratic colleague former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe has praised in the past. Last year, McAuliffe addressed the Milken Conference, praising the advantages of P3s used in the Commonwealth. He also addressed the urgent need to overhaul the outdated permitting process for clearing infrastructure projects, another point Trump is working to revitalize.
President Trump told a large group of Republican lawmakers at a West Virginia GOP retreat that the authorization process with infrastructure projects needs to be streamlined. He emphasized efforts to, “streamline the horrible approval process — roadways that take 12, 13, 14 years to get approved.” Furthermore, he said, “We’re going to bring that [process] down, ideally, to one year. Two years is our goal, but one year is our real goal.”
In a meeting with reporters, Kaine described himself as a “pro-growth progressive,” in contrast with what he defined as, “pro-regulation, redistribution Democrats.” He explained that one lesson Democrats learned from Trump’s 2016 election was that the Republican economic message was simple and the Democratic one was much more complicated.
“Since Reagan, the Republican message has been very simple: Grow the economy, less taxes, less regulation,” Kaine said. “If they’re for growth and we’re for something else on the economy, we start behind.”
It seems that Kaine knows his own party is wrong on the economy. As President Trump’s approval rating is now at 50 percent, higher than Obama’s at the same point in his presidency, according to a Rasmussen poll, his economic message is working. Therefore, Kaine might as well take a page out of the Republican playbook as he wants to win the economic argument.
As Kaine campaigns throughout the Commonwealth he apparently has released a playlist on Spotify with 31 songs that will give the well-known music-lover some inspiration while stumping with his supporters. As far as his economic policies are concerned, he should add “Up like Trump” to the playlist.
