With the Virginia fall election coming up, we need to pay particular attention to everything published about Virginia politics. I suspect you won’t find Kaine’s selected team unexpected. The article below is


U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine unveiled a list of senior staff hires Monday for his 2018 re-election campaign, saying he’ll rely on a team with “deep ties to Virginia” that includes several alumni of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Keren Dongo, a former aide in Kaine’s Senate office who last year served as deputy state director for Clinton’s Virginia campaign, will be Kaine’s campaign manager. Jenny Nadicksbernd, Kaine’s finance director for his 2012 campaign who went on to direct his Common Ground PAC, will be in charge of fundraising. Ian Sams, a former Clinton campaign staffer who most recently worked as a spokesman for former Congressman Tom Perriello’s Democratic gubernatorial campaign, will serve as communications director.

Rounding out the team are research director Megan Apper, a former Buzzfeed News political reporter who last year worked on the campaign of U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H, and digital director Jessalyn Reid, who handled Clinton’s digital strategy in Virginia.

“I wake up every day excited to go to work for Virginia families in the Senate, and I’ll keep working with both Democrats and Republicans to build economic opportunity and protect health care for all Virginians while this exceptional team lays the groundwork for our successful campaign,” Kaine said in a prepared statement.

The Senate race isn’t expected to take center stage until after this year’s statewide races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Kaine’s staff news comes a week after Corey Stewart, a fiery Trump-style Republican who almost won the GOP nomination for governor this year, became the first GOP candidate to officially announce a run for Kaine’s seat. In his announcement, Stewart called Kaine an “obedient servant to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama” and “the leading obstructionist against Trump’s America First agenda.”

Republicans will choose their nominee in a primary next year.