Democrat Senator Tim Kaine announced that he would seek a third term as Senator of Virginia, according to reporting by Fox News.
That third run will set him up to battle for election in 2024. Kaine announced at the state capitol in Virginia at Richmond.
Kaine said the following in his announcement:
I have been grappling with what to do concerning my time in the Senate, and Im very happy to announce that Im going to run for a third term in the Senate,
This decision is a relief for powerbroker Democrats as they were concerned about who they would put up to fill the void if Kaine decided not to run again for the Senate in Virginia.
Kaine said the following:
Im a servant. I love Virginia. Im proud of what Ive done,
Republicans responded to this announcement by saying simply that they would focus on recruiting the right candidate to take on Kaine going forward.
National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Maggie Abboud spoke with Fox News Digital and said the following about it:
Virginians have shown theyre willing to vote Republican with the right candidate and the right political environment, and followed up with, Were going to keep a close eye on Virginia and focus on recruiting a strong candidate who can raise the resources necessary to compete.
Democrats performed better than expected in the 2022 election cycle, but the 2024 cycle is looking like it is likely to shape up to be a much more challenging cycle for them to take on. They will be defending many battleground seats that Republicans are hoping to pick off one by one in the Senate. Some Republicans can do a lot of work towards making Virginia one of the seats that Democrats have to worry about if they put up the right candidate.
Democrats will defend 23 of the 34 Senate seats for grabs in 2024. Of the 23 they are defending, 7 are in states that former President Trump won in either 2016 or 2020.
On the other hand, Republicans will NOT be defending any seats won by Biden in 2020. Thus, it seems like the ground might be more fertile for Republicans to pick up seats in the Senate. The Democrats can only hang their hat on the idea that they at least managed to get Tim Kaine to run again in Virginia.
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