Veterans in Congress are taking sides in the battle over the military record of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), who was recently accused of “stolen valor” by his rival vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).
“When are @JDVance and [former President] Trump going to stop denigrating the men and women who honorably serve our country?” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a Marine Corps veteran, said Thursday in a thread on the social platform X. “JD knows personally that signing up to serve does not always mean you see combat — 90% of servicemembers don’t.”
Moulton later added in the thread that he is “proud to have served in the House alongside @Tim_Walz because I’m proud of his service as a true American patriot.”
Vice President Harris announced Walz as her running mate Tuesday. His military record has quickly become a battle point between the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns and their allies in Congress.
Both Vance and Walz were in the military, with Walz serving in the National Guard and Vance serving in the Marines.
Vance went on the attack against Walz earlier this week, charging him with “stolen valor” because he left the armed services before his unit was deployed.
“I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war?” Vance said. “He has not spent a day in a combat zone. … I’d be ashamed if I was him and I lied about my military service like he did.”
Vance’s Wednesday comments seemed to be about a clip of Walz posted by the Harris campaign on social media. In the clip, Walz is talking about gun control and says, “We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war.”
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), a Navy veteran, slammed Walz in a post on X on Thursday.
“I proudly served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, with multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq – retired as a Master Chief,” Gonzales said in his post. “Yes, that makes me the highest ranked enlisted service member to EVER serve in Congress. A claim Gov. Walz has falsely paraded around. It’s important to call out DISHONESTY. Tim Walz should immediately be WITHDRAWN as the Vice President Nominee.”
Another Democrat in Congress with past military service, Rep. Jason Crow (Colo.), also joined the fray.
“Let’s get something straight: denigrating a veteran’s service when your running mate *checks notes* dodged the draft, called veterans ‘suckers’ and ‘losers,’ and refused to honor fallen WW1 soldiers to avoid getting rained on isn’t just weird. It’s a flat out disgrace,” Crow, an Army veteran, said Thursday in a post on X.
His remarks were a clear reference to former President Trump, the GOP nominee for president.
Other Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, echoed Vance’s criticism of Walz.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said Wednesday on X that it was “Purple Heart day and we have a guy who is claiming to be a combat veteran as Harris’ running mate.”
“Disgusting,” Luna, who is an Air Force veteran, continued.
Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), an Army veteran, said Wednesday in a post on X that the Minnesota governor “abandoned his fellow soldiers on the heels of their deployment to Iraq.”
“He chose Congress over combat,” Mast continued. “He is unfit to be anywhere near the commander-in-chief.”
People in the National Guard who served with Walz, however, said he decided to retire from his unit at a time when members did not realize they could be deployed.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), a Navy veteran, on Thursday compared the attacks on Walz’s military record to the swift boat attacks on then-Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) when he ran for president in 2004.
“It’s reminiscent of the swift boat bulls‑‑‑ that Sen. Kerry faced in his election. We’re seeing the same type of people trying to reignite this same kind of slanderous campaign against a man who served for 24 years in the National Guard,” Sherrill said.
In an emailed statement to The Hill, a spokesperson for Vance said that the Minnesota governor “lied about carrying a weapon in a war and abandoned his unit as they prepared to actually deploy for war – he said he would answer the call, but when the call came, he ran for office instead.”
“There’s nothing more insulting to veterans who do answer the call to serve in a combat zone like Senator Vance did than those who engage in stolen valor to benefit their political career – which is exactly what Walz appears to have done,” Luke Schroeder said.
The Hill has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.
This story was updated at 5:40 p.m.