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Utah Rep. touts Tim Kaine, says Clinton’s VP pick among her friends

Posted at 8:17 PM, Jul 24, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-25 10:23:23-04

SALT LAKE CITY – Hillary Clinton’s pick for Vice President has spent time in Utah, and Rep. Patrice Arent counts him among her friends.

Arent, Minority Caucus Manager in the Utah House, represents Salt Lake City and said she has known him for years.

Tim Kaine arrived home in Richmond, Virginia to cheers after the announcement.

“I’m just so grateful to Hillary Clinton for asking me to join her on this amazing journey,” he told that crowd.

More than 2,000 miles away, a friend and political colleague from Utah was boarding a plane for the Democratic National Convention.

“I could talk to you about Tim Kaine for days,” Arent said.

The Utah Democrat said she is excited to see a respected friend on the rise.

'You look at his background, having been a city council member, a mayor, a lieutenant governor, a governor, and now a member of the U.S. Senate,” Arent said.

Kaine’s start as a lawyer is the reason he’s crossed paths with Arent. Kaine attended law school with Arent’s sister, and that friendship included trips to Salt Lake City.

“He went to Harvard Law School, he did very, very well there,” Arent said. “He could have gone off to Wall Street, gone to a big law firm and made a lot of money, but Tim decided to be a civil rights lawyer instead.”

Arent may find it hard to catch up with her old friend on the convention floor this time around, but it won’t stop her from joining in with everyone else in the crowd cheering him on.