Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden ahead of primaries in South Carolina and Super Tuesday. The Biden campaign announced the endorsement in an email.

Virginia is one of the 14 states voting on Super Tuesday. Kaine, who is also the former governor of Virginia, was Hillary Clinton's running mate in the 2016 presidential election. Kaine also tweeted that the country deserves "better in the Oval Office" than Donald Trump.

"Democrats have many good public servants and admirable people running for president," Kaine said in a statement. "I will vote in the Virginia presidential primary for Joe Biden. Barack Obama wisely chose Joe as his partner in the White House, and for eight years, Vice President Biden worked hand-in-hand with President Obama to rescue the American economy from catastrophe, expand health care to millions of people, revive creative diplomacy to keep Americans safe, tackle global challenges like climate change, and appoint high-quality people across the executive and judicial branches of our government. As a senator, I saw first-hand Joe's role in these accomplishments."

Biden is expected to perform well in South Carolina, the next state to hold a contest on Saturday. The real test will come three days later, on Super Tuesday, as Senator Bernie Sanders seeks to build on momentum from early states, particularly Nevada.