It's been less than a week since Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 presidential race. But Walz's military record — something that would typically boost an election campaign — has quickly become a target of Republican attacks.
It all started with a 2018 video recently resurfaced by the Harris campaign that shows Walz speaking about his stance on gun control.
"We can make sure those weapons of war that I carried in war are only carried in war," Walz said in the clip.
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Prior to getting involved in politics, Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard and was deployed to Italy in 2003 in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. However, some Republicans are now using Walz's comments about the weapons he "carried in war" as fuel for scrutiny and even accusations of stolen valor.
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During a campaign event last week, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance accused Walz of never going to war and claimed the Minnesota governor abandoned his unit just as they were about to go to Iraq in the early 2000s — where Vance himself was deployed as a Marine. Speaking to CNN's Dana Bash Sunday, Vance doubled down on those claims.
"This is a guy who's captured on video saying 'I carried a gun in war.' He never went to war," Vance said. "This is a guy who's been captured on video, as other people say 'he's an Afghanistan veteran, he's a veteran of a war,' nodding along in agreement instead of saying, 'no, no, no, I did serve my country and I did it honorably, but I never went to a war zone.'"
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"I'm not criticizing Tim Walz's service," Vance continued. "I'm criticizing the fact that he lied about his service for political gain."
The Harris campaign has since come out and said Walz "misspoke," according to a statement given to CNN. Transportation Secretary and Navy veteran Pete Buttigieg then came to Walz's defense on CNN's "State of the Union," calling Vance's comments disparaging.
"The fact that a veteran wants to go out and disparage another veteran just goes against certainly everything I learned during my time in service," Buttigieg said. "...It's kind of an exception that proves the rule, in terms of how hard you have to look to find Tim Walz saying anything that isn't precise and accurate."
