Hillary Clinton chooses Tim Kaine as her running mate

Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee in the 2016 presidential race, has picked Virginia senator Tim Kaine as her running mate.

Mr Kaine (58), a former mayor and one-time governor of Virginia, comes from a battleground state, something that will help Ms Clinton in her bid to secure important electoral college votes in the election battle against Republican nominee Donald Trump.

“I’m thrilled to announce my running mate @TimKaine, a man who’s devoted his life to fighting for others,” said the former US secretary of state in a tweet posted shortly after 8pm local time (1am Irish time).

Following the announcement, Mr Kaine tweeted: "Just got off the phone with Hillary. I'm honoured to be her running mate. Can't wait to hit the trail tomorrow in Miami! "

Ms Clinton called the Virginia politician shortly after 7.30pm last night to inform him that she had picked him to be her running mate, before she placed a call to president Barack Obama to inform him of her decision.

Mr Kaine is regarded as a safe choice by Ms Clinton, a cautious candidate.

Respected during his time in the senate, Mr Kaine has a foreign policy background and a strong record in governing that will bolster Ms Clinton’s presidential ticket against Mr Trump, who has never held public office before - a key line of attack for the Democrats.

Mr Kaine can also speak fluent Spanish, honed during his time working as a missionary in central America.

This may help Ms Clinton shore up support among Hispanic Americans, a critical voting bloc in a national election.

Mr Kaine has already made two campaign stops with the Democratic candidate in recent weeks.

The announcement comes ahead of Ms Clinton being formally elected as the Democratic presidential nominee at the party's national convention in Philadelphia next week.

The presumptive nominee has said in a recent interview that she “loves” that Mr Kaine deems himself “too boring” and admitted that she has “a fondness for wonks”.

She pointed out that Mr Kaine had never lost an election and praised him as a “world-class mayor, governor and senator”.

Her choice of the Virginia senator means that, should she be elected in the November 8th election, his replacement will be picked by Democratic state governor Terry McAuliffe, a long-time Clinton associate.

Significantly, this would mean that the Democrats would not lose a senate seat, as they attempt to win back control of the upper chamber of congress from the Republicans in the November elections.

Contenders

Other vice-presidential contenders such as Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Cory Booker of New Jersey were considered, but their appointments would have meant they were replaced by a Republican, given that both states have governors from that party.

A proud Irish-American, Mr Kaine has family roots in Co Longford and Co Kilkenny. All four of his grandparents were born to Irish immigrants.

"I am about as stone Irish as you get for somebody whose family has been in the country for 150 years," he said at the American Ireland Fund's St Patrick's Day dinner in March.

He spoke there of his Irish roots and his visit to Ireland in 2006, his first year as governor of Virginia, with his wife Anne and three children.

They visited the ruins of the home of his great-grandfather, PJ Farrell.

Mr Kaine joked at the dinner about how his children were not happy about leaving the tourist haunts of Dublin to search for his family roots in Co Longford.

“As we drove to Longford, which isn’t exactly the tourist zone, they continued to complain,” he said.

“But when we landed in Longford town my 11-year-old daughter said to me, ‘Dad, why does everyone look like us’? And they started to get it.”