Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday kicked off his first solo campaign stop as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate by fiercely defending his military record.
The event in Los Angeles marked Mr. Walz’s first time hitting the campaign trail by himself and he spent several minutes pushing back against criticism that he exaggerated his military record and falsely suggested he served in combat.
“I am damn proud of my service to this country and I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person’s service record,” Mr. Walz told the crowd. “Anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I have a few simple words, ‘thank you for your service.’”
Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio served in the Marines and was deployed to Iraq in 2005.
Mr. Vance has accused Mr. Walz of “stolen valor” for claiming that he served in a war and allegedly abandoned his Army National Guard unit right before they were headed to Iraq.
It is the first time Mr. Walz has responded to the accusations himself and not through a campaign spokesperson, though he did not address specific criticism.
Mr. Walz was speaking at the annual convention of the American Federation of State, County, Municipal, Employees, a group of roughly 1.5 million state and local government workers, including those who work at museums, libraries, and zoos.
In his remarks, Mr. Walz said he served 24 years in various Army National Guard units, but never in a combat zone.
“These guys are even attacking me for my record. I’m proud to have served my country and I always will be,” he said.
In a 2018 speech about gun control, Mr. Walz vowed to ban “weapons of war that I carried in war.” After Republicans, including Mr. Vance and former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, questioned his military record, the Harris campaign admitted the Minnesota governor “misspoke.”
Another video resurfaced this week in which Mr. Walz embellished his military career by suggesting he was deployed to Afghanistan. During a speech to mark the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, he talked about standing “in the dark of night on the tarmac” of Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
Thomas Behrends, a retired command sergeant major of the Minnesota National Guard who served with Mr. Walz, said the 9/11 speech is part of a pattern of stolen valor.
“He’s got this manipulative thing with words that borderline lies. He basically says it to embellish the truth,” Mr. Behrends told The Washington Times.
• Kerry Picket contributed to this report.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.