Protestors in support of Palestine interrupt Sen. Kaine's 2024 campaign tour kick off

A handful of protestors in support of Palestine interrupted Sen. Tim Kaine’s re-election pitch to voters at his first campaign tour stop in downtown Richmond Tuesday morning.

“We need leaders who will stand up to Israel and stop sending them money and stop sending them bombs,” the first protestor shouted during Kaine’s address.

“There’s a lot of heartbreak in the world. We need to find a hostage deal; we need to find a ceasefire,” Kaine responded, before attempting to launch back into his speech.

Protestors halted the event three times more.

Link Alexiou, 18, who will be voting for the first time in a presidential race in November, was one of those protestors. They said that they believe they can find common ground with Kaine if given the opportunity.

“The issue is we haven’t been given the platform to talk,” they said after the event. “It’s frustrating because it’s been six months of this and they’re still not listening.”

As a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Senate committees, Kaine has walked a tightrope at home and in Washington D.C. since the October 7 attack by Hamas that killed hundreds of Israelis and the subsequent conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and displaced and limited or cut off humanitarian aid to nearly two million residents.

“Israel has a complete right to defend itself against those who would annihilate it, Palestinians have a right to live and to have autonomy and a future that they were promised in 1948, so how do you square those things in the aftermath of the attack on October 7?” Kaine said in an interview after his campaign event.

The Senator has worked to prioritize the release of hostages taken by Hamas, He has urged the Biden Administration to press for de-escalation and to ensure upcoming U.S. weapons transfers to Israel prioritize defensive needs.

He has also worked to protect civilians in Gaza and the West Bank while countering threats to Israel from Hamas and Iran. And he has led his colleagues in calling for a short-term cessation of violence to ensure humanitarian assistance is able to reach civilians in Gaza, Michael Beyer, Kaine’s campaign communications director, said in a statement.

Conflict in Gaza an issue among older voters

A group of demonstrators chanted and sang outside of the Hippodrome Theater in downtown Richmond, Virginia on a damp Tuesday morning, ahead of the event. Many wore keffiyehs around their necks and carried signs that read “Stop genocide and apartheid,” “Earn our votes,” and “End U.S. military funding to Israel” among others.

Their goal was to draw attention to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, during the launch of Sen. Tim Kaine’s first re-election campaign tour of the 2024 election season.

Robin Allman, 69, from Richmond stood outside of the theater and held a sign that read “Feed Gaza, fund UNRWA.” A self-proclaimed life-long Blue Dog Democrat, she said she planned to abstain from voting in the federal races in November. She said the conflict in Gaza is her motivation for forgoing the federal vote and that she plans to vote in local elections.

“This is not war, this is genocide,” she said. “If you call yourself a Catholic or a humanitarian, [Kaine] always claims he’s a humanitarian, then he has to be against genocide.”

Nancy Wein, 70, a life-long Democratic voter and member of Richmond’s Jewish community, held a sign that said “Tim Kaine, don’t take our votes for granted” and, in smaller print, “Demand ceasefire now, stop U.S. funding of genocide, restore UNRWA funding.”

“At this point, even if Tim Kaine and Biden – it’s too late for them. It’s too late. I am not voting for Biden, I am not voting for Kaine,” she said, and emphasized each word with a tap of her walking cane against the ground as she spoke. “I can’t in good conscious vote for anyone in the Democratic Party who has not called for an immediate ceasefire.”

Nancy Jawish Rives, 64, another lifelong Democratic voter who said she had knocked doors for Kaine in past elections, said she has called her representatives every week since December seeking a ceasefire.

“At this moment, I can’t stomach the thought of voting for the Democrats, there would have to be some radical repositioning of policy where we would stop all funding to Israel and we would impose sanctions,” she said. “Then I would vote for the Democratic Party.”

Kaine responds

At an intimate roundtable style gaggle with reporters after the event, Kaine talked about the sensitivity needed to navigate the conflict as a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, a candidate seeking re-election, and as a human being.

“It’s a very heartbreaking situation, and do people feel strongly about it? Yeah. I do,” he said. “What I’ve focused on is trying to really push for more and more humanitarian aid. I’ve been able to accomplish it, but it’s been too slow and too, still inadequate.”

Through his work on Senate committees, he is pushing for a hostage release agreement, he said.

“If we can get to that, if we can dramatically improve humanitarian aid, we will deescalate other tensions in the region, we can get in the middle of a truce and talk about extending the truce,” he said. “Two promises were made to two people in 1948, one promise has been kept, one promise hasn’t. We have to find some path forward on that.”

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Conflict in Gaza has found its way into the Senate race in Virginia