Tim Kaine says Hillary Clinton will be his first female boss

© AFP Saul Loeb

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine says Hillary Clinton will be his first female boss if she's elected president.

The Virginia senator and attorney attempted to recall when he last worked for a woman during an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.

"Other than supervising attorneys on occasion, this will be the first time I've had a female boss," Kaine said on the program airing Tuesday night.

For his part, Kaine would also be making history as the first man in the US to serve as vice president to a woman commander-in-chief.

Kaine told Maddow he is eager to play a supporting role for "a woman who's going to make history, to a president who will preside over the centennial of women getting the right to vote."

"Strong men should definitely support strong women," he said speaking to the changing gender roles that would happen in the White House should Clinton be elected.

The message echoed with Kaine's conversation with David Axelrod on Monday's "The Axe Files" podcast — produced by CNN and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, in which the Virginia senator narrated what flashed through his mind when Clinton asked him to be her running mate.

...I’ve been in politics for 22 years; this is my ninth race. In all the previous eight races, I’ve been the guy with my name on the ballot, my name on the bumper sticker and the yard sign. And I’ve had all these strong women supporting me: campaign managers, Cabinet secretaries, agency heads; the voters that we get are more women than men.

And I remember thinking, “Wow, I’m going to have the chance now to notbe the top of the ticket. I’m going to be a strong man supporting the first strong woman to be president of the United States.” And as important as it is to normalize that a woman can be president, it’s also important to normalize that strong men can support a woman as president.

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