Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) likened vocal parents who have expressed their anger with left-wing policies at local school board meetings to the protestors who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Kaine — who served as Hillary Clinton‘s running mate during the 2016 presidential election — made the remarks during a community event in Dumfries, Virginia, last Friday.
“I realized when I was barricaded in the Capitol on January 6 when it was under attack that the tension right now in this country, and in this world, is between those who will stand up for others and those who want to tear us down or tear us apart,” Kaine told the few supporters in attendance. He continued: “You see it at school board meetings when people come and raise hell at these school board members who are just trying to do the very best they can. There is a loud energy around tear-us-down and tear-us-apart.”
Hillary Clinton’s former running mate went on to accuse former President Donald Trump of being “the greatest tear down artist in the history of American politics.”
The comments come three years after the parental rights issue catapulted Republican Glenn Youngkin into the Virginia governor’s mansion. Youngkin rode a wave of voter anger over Virginia schools embracing transgender and DEI ideologies to victory over former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe in 2021. Analysis of election data shows that educational policy was, for many voters, a determining factor in Youngkin’s election win.
School boards in Virginia continue to face criticism over their management of transgender policies and the teaching of critical race theory. This controversy spilled over in Loudoun County last year, resulting in an entirely new school board being elected in November 2022.
