Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine thinks his party is right where it wants to be in the general election, despite the disunity that was on display during much of the Democratic National Convention last week.
While there is more work Democrats can do to unify their party, the Virginia senator told CNN’s Jake Tapper that significant progress was made during their four-day convention in Philadelphia.
“I feel we’re in really, really good shape,” Kaine said in an interview aired on Sunday. “I was Democratic Party chair, so I’m used to the fact that we’re a big family with a lot of different points of view.”
“I think Bernie [Sanders] did a good job this week by telling his folks why Hillary [Clinton] is right and why Donald Trump is directly contrary to every value he’s ever held or advocated in his life,” he added.
Last week’s Democratic convention got off to a turbulent start after leaked Democratic National Committee emails showed top party officials had actively worked to help Clinton during the primary season. Supporters of Sanders repeatedly heckled outgoing DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and protested Clinton during her acceptance speech Thursday night.
Kaine also praised Clinton for delivering a speech that put her passion for public service on display and offered an olive branch to Sanders’ supporters. He intends to “brag about her more” now that they’re entering the height of the general election against Donald Trump and Mike Pence, Kaine said.
“Hillary is a Midwestern Methodist church kid. You remember President Obama talk about the Midwest thing. I’m from the Midwest, we don’t like to talk about ourselves very much. That’s not her natural way and frankly, it ain’t mine either,” Kaine explained.
He continued, “But I love to brag about other people, and so I talk about Hillary … I say, ‘Look, if you want to know the character of someone in public life, what you do is you look to see if they had a passion that was obvious before they got into public life and did they maintain that passion all throughout their career.’ Hillary has got that passion.”
