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 is a member of the Democratic Party. 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 ch