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Sen. Tim Kaine: The Senator Who Forced the First Vote

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED for his resolutions and the Senate votes on them, from the Senate roll-call record. STRONG for his statements, from his posts and quotations in news reports.

Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, has used the War Powers Resolution more than any other senator against a war with Iran, under two presidencies. The law lets a single senator force a vote; Kaine is the senator who keeps doing it.

2020​

After the killing of Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, Kaine filed a resolution that, as a peace group summarized, would "require the President to remove troops from hostilities against Iran within thirty days, unless the activity is meant to respond to an imminent threat" (Historians for Peace and Democracy, January 13, 2020). Congress passed an Iran war-powers resolution that year and the President vetoed it, according to a later summary (Grok on X, June 22, 2025).

June 2025: S.J.Res. 59​

On June 16, 2025, as Israel's strikes on Iran continued, Kaine filed S.J.Res. 59 "to require Congressional approval for U.S. military actions against Iran" (Grok summary, June 27, 2025). A forecasting site recorded his aim: to "prevent President Trump from using the US armed forces against Iran, save for self-defense from imminent attack" (Good Judgment Open). After the June 21 strikes he called them illegal, as a summary of legal reactions put it (Grok on X, June 22, 2025). On June 27 the Senate rejected his resolution 47 to 53. See June 2025.

February 2026: before the war​

As the buildup grew, Kaine wrote: "Virginia families have already suffered enough because of wrongheaded forever wars in the Middle East… I have filed a bipartisan resolution to block this war against Iran unless Congress votes to approve it" (Kaine on X). An X summary said his Senate version was backed by Sen. Rand Paul (X trend page, February 25, 2026). On the day the war began: "The Senate should immediately return to session and vote on my War Powers Resolution" (Reddit r/politics, February 28, 2026).

2026: S.J.Res. 104 and S.J.Res. 185​

His S.J.Res. 104 failed 47 to 53 on March 4, 2026. His S.J.Res. 185 produced the Senate's first win on May 19, when the motion to discharge was agreed 50 to 47 with four Republicans; the motion to proceed failed on June 24, 47 to 50. A Lemmy commenter explained the procedure that frames every such fight: "Kaine forced it to happen as only 1 member of Congress has to call it ... It was going to wait 10 days unless the Republicans on the comitee wanted otherwise" (Lemmy thread). A partial Newsweek list of members backing the war-powers resolution, seen only in an X search snippet in our captures, includes him.

Why he matters​

Kaine's June 2025 resolution was the first chance Congress had to stop the escalation before February 2026. The Senate refused it by six votes. Every vote since has been a smaller margin.

Status: Alive.

Sources​

Research captures: twitter/t46__v541.md, t46__v543.md, t46__v544.md, t47__v551.md, t47__v555.md, t47__v557.md, t47__v561.md

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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