Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz touted misleading descriptions of his military service during his 2006 congressional run, according to a
media kit he distributed at the time obtained by the
Washington Free Beacon.
Media kits, or press packets, are standard practice for candidates who seek to introduce themselves to the electorate and often feature a variety of news stories or interviews. In Walz’s case, he hoped to emphasize his public service as both a public school teacher and veteran.
But two of the articles Walz selected gave the impression that he served overseas in Afghanistan. That decision adds to a growing pattern of incidents in which Walz either misrepresented his military service or promoted others’ misrepresentations of it.
A March 20, 2006,
Wall Street Journal report included in the kit states that Walz "served overseas during the early war in Afghanistan." Walz told the paper that the Iraq war is "not something that is a political game."
Another, from the January/February 2006 edition of
The Atlantic, describes Walz as "a command sergeant major who’d just returned from fighting the war on terrorism." The piece goes on to characterize Walz as one of the "number of veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq" who were running for Congress that year.
Walz, now the Democratic vice presidential nominee, did not serve in either Afghanistan or Iraq, and his title of command sergeant major was revoked after he left the service just two months before his National Guard battalion was informed of a future deployment to Iraq. Walz was stationed overseas in Italy from August 2003 to April 2004.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
He literally said he didn't vote in multiple elections, yet he claimed he was going to vote for Biden.
