Sen. Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s former running mate, said Thursday that he and Clinton would soon appear for a series of “thank you events” in the “next couple of weeks” to show their appreciation for supporters.
“Hillary is a very resilient person. I mean, she has dealt with an awful lot in her life,” Kaine said during an appearance on Fox 5, a local Washington-area channel.
“And she’s got a philosophical perspective that, OK, if you’ve been given a lot of opportunities… you also have to accept the tough things,” he said.
His “thank you” tour could coincide with a similar string of events President-elect Trump will host this month in states that delivered him the presidency. On Thursday, he will kick off the tour with a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Kaine suggested he was “disappointed,” but not shocked, by Trump’s victory on Nov. 8.
“I really was holding my expectations down,” he said. “I always felt like Hillary was the underdog, frankly, because she’s trying to be a woman president and we’ve never had one.”
Kaine touted their margin of victory in his home state of Virginia, which Clinton won by 5 points, as a consolation that emerged from an otherwise disappointing night of election returns. Like many Democrats, he praised Clinton’s victory in the popular vote.
“While we didn’t quite get there, you know what, I’m proud of the effort,” he said.
Kaine argued the Clinton campaign was obligated to participate in a controversial multistate recount effort spearheaded by Green Party nominee Jill Stein. Clinton has taken criticism for joining the recount despite bashing Trump during the presidential race for hinting he might not accept the results of the election.
“When Jill Stein, one of the third party candidates, decided to do it, if there’s going to be a recount, we have to be at the table to make sure that it’s done right,” Kaine said. “I think people are entitled to know that the results are fair.”
The Virginia Democrat pointed to reports of Russian-backed hacking as evidence that questions of potential outside “influence” still lingered.
“You have the intelligence agencies of the United States saying that the government of Russia was trying to influence the outcome of the election,” Kaine said. “If there’s questions about, was there some influence, it’s important to put those to bed.”
“We’re very doubtful that the outcome is going to change,” he added.
