Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (Democrat) and Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) both boast impressive military records, but a dispute erupted between them this week over the details of their military service in the running for vice president.
Vance, a former Marine, on Wednesday attacked Walz, who served in the National Guard for 24 years. The Republican presidential candidate called it “defamatory” that his Democratic rival claimed he had left the military before serving in Iraq and served in the war.
“Tim Walz, when have you been in a war?” Vance said while campaigning in Michigan. “He’s never spent a day in a combat zone. I would be embarrassed if I were him and I lied about my military service like he did.”
Vance said, Waltz ClipThe video, shared on social media by the Harris campaign, shows the governor talking about gun control, saying, “I can ensure that the weapons of war that I carried in war are only carried in war.”
Waltz never served in combat. The Hill has reached out to Harris and Waltz’s campaigns for comment. Waltz’s supporters point out that Vance acknowledged in his memoir that he never served in actual combat, and that Waltz has never lied about his rank.
Jacob Thomas, spokesman and communications director for the progressive veterans group Common Defense, said attacking a fellow veteran’s military record is “bizarre and desperate.”
“I don’t think that’s a winning message,” he said. “We don’t need to waste time blaming each other for things that don’t matter. We’ve all served. And like I said, frankly, it just reeks of desperation.”
Waltz and Vance stand out as veterans on the national ticket; Since the late Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) ran for president in 2008. Former President Trump famously dodged the draft after being diagnosed with bone spurs during the Vietnam War, and Vice President Harris also did not serve in the military.
Either man would be the first military veteran to serve as president or vice president since President George W. Bush, who was a lieutenant in the Texas Air National Guard.
For Harris and Trump, choosing a veteran with a notable military record was likely a factor in their choice of running mate, said Matt Bennett, executive vice president of communications at the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way.
“It’s a factor, but I don’t think it’s the deciding factor,” Bennett said. “I don’t think either Harris or Trump said, ‘We need a veteran.’ I think they said, ‘Oh, the fact that he’s a veteran is definitely a plus.'”
Waltz grew up in Nebraska and graduated from high school in 1982 before joining the Army National Guard at age 17 to earn money for college. During his service, he deployed to Italy to support counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan and also responded to floods, tornadoes and other natural disasters across the United States.
Walz retired from the military after 24 years as a master sergeant and then won his first term in 2006, becoming the highest-ranking soldier to ever serve in Congress. He later became the top Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
“He knows our community better than many of our elected leaders and has a proven track record of fighting for his fellow veterans.” Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America” he said of Walz’s time in Congress.
“He’s someone I knew from my time in the Legislature,” she added. “Our organization has a long relationship with Governor Walz. He fought side by side with us on the post-9/11 VETERANS BENEFITS Act.”
Jaslow also told The Hill that Walz’s experience in the National Guard gives him a “unique perspective on that part of the overall military” that other elected leaders don’t have, and that it could be valuable given the Guard’s increased responsibilities on the southern border.
But within a day of announcing that Waltz would join Harris on the Democratic ticket, he was under intense attack from the right.
Critics have noted that Waltz left the military before his unit was due to deploy to Iraq, suggesting he did so to avoid combat duty.
“When Tim Walz was called upon by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did?” Vance said at a campaign event in Michigan. “He quit the Army and let his troops go without him.”
And Rep. Mike Walz (R-Fla.) likened Walz’s departure from the National Guard to “a quarterback from a big-time team leaving right before they’re going to the Super Bowl.”
“I’ve never heard of a commander or a sergeant major leaving their unit before going into the field,” he said. He said in the video Posted on social platform X.
Kevin Poindexter, a Minnesota-based Republican political strategist, said he had “a lot of questions” about the move, which he called an attempt to avert a deployment.
“I think people in the veterans community are going to seriously reconsider what’s going on there,” he said. “They all carried out their orders, they served their country, and [Walz who] They headed for Washington, leaving their troops behind in the process.”
Supporters of Walz, who served in the artillery unit and is hearing impaired, say he was preparing to run for Congress when he took honorable discharge from the military ahead of deployment.
Democratic national strategist Mark Mellman said the attack “just doesn’t make sense.”
“Are you sending someone in their mid-40s to Iraq? I don’t think so,” he said. “The man is in the National Guard. [24] He was in the hospital for 28 years, and I don’t think anybody can reasonably say, ‘Oh, you were really in the hospital for 28 years.'”
in Infographics distributed online Boat Vets, a liberal veterans’ political group, countered the Republican accusations, saying Walz submitted his retirement application months before the unit was to be deployed and that the unit was fully staffed.
Critics have also taken issue with Waltz’s rank of master sergeant, which he has held throughout his political career. Waltz was promoted to master sergeant during his military service but was demoted to sergeant major after his retirement because he did not complete certain training to maintain that rank. However, the National Guard approved his master sergeant status upon retirement because he served under that rank.
But any harsh criticism hurled at Waltz about his military service may be blunted by the fact that Vance himself never saw combat and his fierce criticism of Trump’s shunning of military service altogether.
Vance, who served in the Marines from 2003 to 2007 and deployed to Iraq, said in his memoir that he never saw actual combat and worked in public affairs during his deployment.
“Let me be clear: You served honorably, including six months in combat in the Public Affairs Corps,” said Trump whistleblower and retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. I wrote to X on Wednesday..
“Waltz retired after 24 years of service, attaining the rank of master sergeant. I don’t think it’s advisable to compare military careers.”
Trump received four deferments for his education during the war and later received a medical exemption for a bone spur diagnosis. The New York Times reports What was being suggested was “favor.”
“He doesn’t understand what it means to serve because he’s too busy serving himself,” Walz said of Trump during a campaign event on Wednesday.
In a statement to The Hill, Harris’ campaign defended Waltz’s record.
“Governor Walz retired from the military in 2005 after 24 years of service and ran for Congress, where he served as Commissioner of Veterans Affairs and worked tirelessly on behalf of our military members, and as Vice President of the United States he will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of veterans and military families,” the campaign said.
