Vance runs a Swift Boat attack against Walz's military service

Ohio Sen. JD Vance slammed the timing of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's retirement from a more-than-two-decades-long military career as a means of avoiding a deployment to Iraq on Wednesday, calling it "stolen valor garbage" and testing a new line of attack on the newly minted Democratic vice presidential contender.

There is no evidence that Walz retired to avoid a wartime deployment, and it's a move that may not work — Walz has faced similar attacks from opponents before during successful races for Congress and governor, in which he explained his Army record in detail but did not make it a central part of his campaign.

The attacks are reminiscent of the 2004 campaign to discredit the distinguished war record of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, who served in Vietnam and later criticized the war — an effort led by Chris LaCivita, now a senior adviser to the Trump campaign.

What remains to be seen is if the tactic will be as successful 20 years later, when the Republican presidential nominee evaded military service, and Vance, despite his deployment to Iraq, has no combat experience either.

“He has not spent a day in a combat zone,” Vance, who deployed to Iraq as a combat correspondent in the Marines but did not experience combat, told reporters at a campaign event in Michigan on Wednesday. “Do not pretend to be something that you're not … I'd be ashamed if I was him and I lied about my military service like he did.”

The broadside, quickly repeated by other Republicans, suggests the campaign may see Walz’s military record as a vulnerability for Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate — one which Vance, his Republican counterpart, could be uniquely positioned to exploit as a fellow former enlistee. While Walz has lambasted Vance’s Midwestern bona fides, he has not criticized his opponent’s military service.

Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), a former Green Beret, characterized the timing of Walz’s retirement from the Army National Guard with a football analogy in a video posted on X : “It is kind of like the quarterback of a big team walking away from their team right before they go to the Super Bowl. I’ve never heard anything like it.”

In fact, Walz filed paperwork for his congressional run in February 2005, about a month before reports emerged that the Minnesota National Guard might be deployed. Walz then announced his run in May of that year, two months before the Minnesota National Guard's directive was officially issued.

Some Republicans, including former Vice President Mike Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, were less excited about pinning Walz down based on his Army background. “A policy attack, I think, would be more effective, perhaps, than some of the personal attacks that have been transpiring.” Short said on MSNBC on Wednesday.

Vance also suggested that Walz lied about serving in a combat zone in a comment circulated by the Harris campaign , where he called for politicians to “make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war.” The Minnesota governor specialized in heavy artillery and was recognized for his sharpshooting skills during his time in the Army, while also being deployed to respond to emergencies such as floods and tornadoes.

"Tim Walz is a fraud who wants to ban firearms like the ones he claimed to carry in war — except Tim Walz never deployed to a combat zone and lied about his record of service in the National Guard," said Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Vance invoked the term “stolen valor,” which describes a person who has lied about or misrepresented their military service, though Walz has never claimed he was a combat veteran. The attack the Trump campaign is deploying describes Walz's retirement before his unit was called up to serve a deployment in Iraq as "stolen valor" — not the typical use of the term.

But the Trump campaign and Republican allies insist the term applies.

"The two biggest sins in the military are claiming credit for decorations you don't have or claiming combat action that you did not participate in, those are the two biggest sins. And this much is certain: He's guilty of at least one of them," LaCivita told POLITICO. "Nothing regarding his lies has been weaponized in a political sense, that's about to change."

At issue is not so much Walz’s tenure in the Army National Guard, but his departure from it in 2005, when the now-Minnesota governor retired to run for Congress. Vance and other Republicans have accused Walz of abandoning his unit, the 1st Battalion of the 125th Field Artillery Regiment in the Minnesota National Guard, which was preparing for deployment to Iraq in the fall of 2005.

Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard in Nebraska at 17, completing 20 years of service in 2001 and then reenlisting for four more years after the Sept. 11 attacks that year. Between 2003 and 2004, he deployed to Italy on active duty to support base security as part of Operation Enduring Freedom , the first stage of the United States’ war on terror. The governor has openly acknowledged never facing combat during his 24 years of service.

“After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, where he chaired Veterans Affairs and was a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform — and as Vice President of the United States he will continue to be a relentless champion for our veterans and military families,” Harris campaign spokesperson James Singer wrote in a statement.

The Harris campaign describes Walz as a “retired Command Sergeant Major.” As for his exit from the military to seek office, a Department of Defense military directive in 2004, which was in effect at the time Walz retired, largely prohibited enlisted members of the army from campaigning or holding elected office.

And it's not the first time his rank at retirement has been disputed; a 2018 paid letter to the editor written by two retired command sergeant majors alleged that Walz inflated his rank during his race for governor. He went on to win that race.

The fight over Walz’s military record could signal how the first presidential campaign with two post-Sept. 11 veterans on the ticket might play out. While Vance has sought to portray Walz as dishonest about his service, targeting a part of Walz’s biography that Democrats have quickly embraced, the Minnesota governor has painted Vance as antithetical to the “regular people” he claims to represent.

“Like all regular people I grew up with in the heartland, JD studied at Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, and then wrote a bestseller trashing that community,” Walz said at the Philadelphia rally on Tuesday where Harris introduced him as her running mate. “Come on. That's not what Middle America is.”

Top Democrats contend that continued attacks by Vance on Walz’s military background may come back to hurt Republicans. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who served in Afghanistan as an Army officer, sprang to Walz's defense Wednesday following Vance’s “stolen valor” comments.

"Anybody who is willing to raise their hand, to put on a uniform of this country — especially when you consider a small percentage of our population has ever done that — they deserve our most respect. That includes JD Vance, Corporal JD Vance, and that includes Sergeant Major Tim Walz," Moore said on MSNBC, referring to the vice presidential candidates by their respective military ranks. "And I think JD Vance knows as being a corporal that you don't get to sergeant major just because. You get to sergeant major because you've served the country."

"I just don't know if that's necessarily the hill JD Vance wants to climb," Moore said of Vance’s newfound focus on Walz’s 24-year military record.

Olivia Beavers contributed to this report.