An early campaign stop for Virginia Senator Tim Kaine in Harrisonburg drew dozens of residents who implored him to support a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. WMRA’s Bridget Manley reports.
Senator Tim Kaine arrived at The Golden Pony in Downtown Harrisonburg Saturday morning ready to talk about his reelection campaign, but spent most of the morning addressing the concerns of those calling for a ceasefire in the Israeli-Hamas war.
Kaine did not shy away from answering direct questions and addressing the urgent pleas of those asking for an end to the violence. But he was emphatic that a ceasefire would only happen in conjunction with the release of hostages taken by Hamas in the October 7 attacks.
SEN. KAINE: We’ve got to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire. We’ve got to get both. Folks have come to my office a lot and say “You should just call for a ceasefire.” And I say, “Well, look. A ceasefire with Hamas, when Hamas has pledged to destroy Israel and to do this again, that sort of, is a hard go. But a ceasefire with hostages released, okay. Now we are talking.
Dozens of activists filled the room with signs calling for an end to the violence in Gaza, some with personal ties.
Muawia Dames is a Palestinian-American who has lived in the Valley since 1979.
MUAWIA DAMES: My parents are from Jerusalem, and thankfully emigrated here to the United States. But five million Palestinians remain in their homeland, with only wanting to go back to their homes.
Dames said that he still has family in the West Bank, and described how those family members feel today.
DAMES: Anxious. Scared. Worried. Concerned that what the United States is allowing today is going to be allowed tomorrow in the West Bank.
Kaine spent hours throughout the morning meeting one-by-one with every constituent who wanted to share their concerns about the war, as well as concerns from others regarding reproductive rights, the fight to protect democracy in the U.S., and the possible creation of a Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area.
