Tim Kaine through the years

Hillary Clinton announced Friday that she has picked Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate, making a safe, centrist choice that will probably disappoint some in the progressive wing of her party.

Clinton is expected to appear with Kaine this weekend in south Florida, where the 58-year-old former governor will likely show off his fluency in Spanish, which he picked up in his younger days during a year in Honduras working alongside missionaries. The pair are set to campaign together in Miami on Saturday and then head to the Democratic National Convention next week.

Kaine offers Clinton many strengths as a running mate: He has foreign policy experience from his time on the Senate armed services and foreign relations committees; he can boost her chances to win the battleground state of Virginia; and he has a squeaky-clean, nice-guy image that could help Clinton with her trust issues among voters. Kaine is self-admittedly “boring” and is a middle-aged white man, but in addition to his fluent Spanish he has attended a predominantly black church for two decades, suggesting that he could be better than expected at minority voter outreach. (Liz Goodwin/Yahoo News)

Here’s a look back at Kaine’s career:


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