CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Speaking to a fired-up crowd a local brewery here, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., took direct aim at Republican criticism of major Democratic donor George Soros, telling voters: “It’s straight, flat out anti-Semitism that has led people to target him.”
The 2016 Democratic vice-presidential nominee urged Virginians to be the lead in turning the House blue, reminding them of the hateful attacks on a Jewish synagogue, pipe bombs sent to Democrats and the president’s hardline immigration drumbeat.
Kaine talked little about his race against hard-right Republican Corey Stewart, instead focusing on Democrats’ prospects of retaking the House. As Democrat Leslie Cockburn, a first-time candidate running in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District sat nearby on stage, Kaine promised voters that Democrats are the “for all” party.
Cockburn has been attacked by Republicans for her past criticism of Israel, drawing attention to the 1991 book she co-authored with her husband Andrew that argued that Israel had hijacked US foreign policy.
“It is an election that has existential importance,” Kaine said. “If there is going to be a wave Tuesday night it’s either going to start in Virginia or it’s not going to start.”
More than a year after the white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Kaine said: “I stood on front steps of the Fairfax Jewish community center three weeks ago defaced with 19 swastikas painted across the front.”
He listed hate crimes that have occurred in other parts of the country over the past two weeks, from pipe bombs sent to former presidents and Democratic supporters like philanthropist George Soros, to the two black people killed in Kentucky, to the attack on Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue.
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Kaine slammed Republicans for promoting attack ads throughout the midterm cycle on Democratic donors like Soros.
“George Soros is being uniquely demonized over and over again by the other side,” Kaine said. “Why not some of the other people who are giving money. Why is it George Soros? It’s because he’s jewish and he’s an immigrant.”
“It’s straight, flat out anti-Semitism that has led people to target him,” he added.
And the man who killed 11 people in the Pennsylvania synagogue last weekend, Kaine said, walked into that house of worship “driven by a hate toward Jews.”
“When these things happen I think some of us are like, is this a nightmare?”
He didn’t stop there, turning his ire next to President Trump’s recent assertion notably days before the midterm election that he could strip birthright citizenship out of the Constitution through an executive order.
“Isn’t it interesting that out of everything in the constitution the one thing this president says he wants to change by executive fiat is the definition of citizenship in the 14th amendment,” said Kaine, who added moments later, that Trump’s posturing on immigration is “an election stunt.”
