Tim Kaine in CBS "Face the Nation" interviews during 2018

On Civil Rights: Redefine VA as rainbow coalition instead of Unite the Right

KAINE: Yes.

Q: But it feels, on many of these issues, that it`s very much an open wound. What has actually changed since Charlottesville's [racist attack]?

KAINE: Charlottesville was shocking. At that Unite the Right rally, most of the people arrested for violence that day were out-of-staters who came in to bring their hatred and bigotry. What I see that has changed in Virginia is people saying, "we`re not going to let our state be defined this way." It was seen most directly in the Virginia elections in November of 2017: Of the 15 people that got elected, 11 of the 15 were women, African-American, LGBT--It was a real rainbow coalition.

Q: Yet Corey Stewart, the man running against you, wants to protect Confederate monuments. That`s countering what you`re describing.

KAINE: Yes, it is. But look who won last year. It wasn`t the people who want to secede or go backwards who are winning elections.

On Crime: Systemic racial inequities in the criminal justice system

KAINE: There are deep, deep challenges.

Q: You agree with her?

KAINE: There are systemic racial inequities in the criminal justice system, absolutely. So, when I`m saying we have this policy [of "equality as a nation"], we`re not living it perfectly in any sphere. Criminal justice, I think, would be one where there are significant problems. Look at the disproportionate incarceration rates. Now, to say the entire system is racist--hey, I know fantastic law enforcement professionals, judges, prosecutors who are doing their best every day to reduce inequality. But if you just look at the results, the outcome, who is incarcerated?

On War & Peace: Respond to Syrian chemical attack, but only via Congress

KAINE: When President Obama came to Congress on exactly the same instance in 2014, saying, "Syria has used chemical weapons against civilians, Congress should give authority for us to take military action," I voted for that as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. But the president was doing it the right way. He came forward with a plan and a strategy. And we voted yes.

Q: Obama wasn't going to get the full support of Congress on that one.

KAINE: We got a Senate resolution, and then Syria said, "we will give up our weapons stockpile."

Q: They did not, clearly.

KAINE: In 2014, citizen Donald Trump said the president can't constitutionally do this without coming to Congress. I'm troubled that this is a president who seemed to understand what the Constitution required when Obama was in office, but now he thinks he's a king and he can do whatever he wants without Congress.