Timothy Michael "Tim" Kaine (born February 26, 1958) is an American politician, the current governor of Virginia and as of January 21, 2009, the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He was elected governor in 2005, after serving as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and Mayor of Richmond, Virginia. As governor, he is a member of the National Governors Association, the Southern Governors' Association, and the Democratic Governors Association. Before entering into Virginia politics, Kaine was a lawyer in Richmond, Virginia, and worked with the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) as a Roman Catholic missionary in Honduras. Kaine endorsed the Democratic nominee, now President Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election and was considered a likely choice to be Obama's running mate, but was not ultimately chosen.

Kaine was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Mary Kathleen Burns and Albert A. Kaine, a welder and the owner of a small iron-working shop. Kaine grew up in the Kansas City area and graduated from Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Missouri.

Kaine graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor of arts degree in economics in 1979. He attended Harvard Law School, taking a year-long break during law school to work with the Jesuit order as a Roman Catholic missionary in Honduras. Kaine is fluent in Spanish from his time in Honduras. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1983, and was admitted to the Virginia Bar. In 1984, Kaine married former Richmond Juvenile Court Judge Anne Holton. Holton is the daughter of former Virginia governor A. Linwood Holton Jr.. Kaine and Holton have three children, Nat, Woody, and Annella.