![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/636050689500955248-kainepng.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFirst Lt. Nathaniel Kaine, left, a Marine infantry officer and son of Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential pick, hands a Tanzanian park ranger a certificate of appreciation during a graduation ceremony in Matambwe, Tanzania, in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo Credit: Cpl. Lucas Hopkins\/Marine Corps<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The 26-year-old joined the Marine Corps in 2012 and is about to deploy to Eastern Europe with the Marine Corps’ Black Sea Rotational Force, his father\u00a0noted during his first speech as Hillary <\/span>Clinton\u2019s running mate in\u00a0Miami\u00a0<\/span>on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “[My son] is a proud Marine, and in just a few days he\u2019s deploying to Europe to uphold\u00a0America\u2019s commitment to our NATO allies,” Sen. <\/span>Kaine\u00a0told the crowd. “For me, this drives home the stakes in this election.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n First Lt. Kaine also\u00a0deployed for six months in 2015 in support of Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force\u2014Crisis Response\u2014Africa. He was not immediately available to comment.\u00a0His Lt. Kaine\u2019s awards include the National Defense Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.\u00a0The first lieutenant is deploying to Eastern Europe with the Black Sea Rotational Force, which his father noted during his first speech as Hillary Clinton\u2019s running mate in\u00a0Miami\u00a0on Saturday.<\/span>First Lt. Kaine graduated from The Basic School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, in 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sen. Kaine was unable to respond to a Marine Corps Times interview request, but a<\/span>A spokeswoman for his father the senator <\/span>said Kaine is he\u2019s<\/span> “enormously proud of his son.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gov. <\/span>Pence’s son, 2nd Lt. Michael Pence, is in flight school at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Florida.(His current command is\u00a0Training Command, Marine Aviation Training Support Group-21…do we mention that, too?)<\/span>\u00a0During the governor’s acceptance speech as Donald Trump’s pick for vice president <\/span>at the Republican National Convention last week, he noted that said <\/span>he is “the proud father of a United States Marine.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence stands on stage with his family at the Republican National Convention on July 20. Pence’s son, Michael, second from left, is a Marine officer.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo Credit: Alex Wong\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n After studying at\u00a0Purdue\u00a0University, 2nd Lt. Pence graduated from\u00a0Officer\u00a0Candidate\u00a0School\u00a0at board <\/span>Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, in\u00a02015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second Lt. Pence’s command declined a request for comment, citing the need for him to\u00a0remain focused on flight school.\u00a0In order to remain focused on flight school, 2nd Lt. Pence was unable to respond to questions submitted by Marine Corps Times regarding his relationship with his father and his father\u2019s stance on the military, according to a spokesman for Training and Education Command.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Politics aside, both vice presidential nominees have something in common: sons in the Marine Corps.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":33530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":12,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[12,69],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3042],"class_list":["post-14223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-marine-corps"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ILTOWLIFX5G7VJAS4HRS72E6WU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/2016\/07\/26\/vp-picks-for-trump-clinton-both-have-sons-in-the-marine-corps\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/636051343779099156-gettyimages-578136502jpg.jpg\")