“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.”
Vice President Harris announced Walz as her running mate Tuesday. His military record in the Army National Guard has quickly become a battle point between the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns and their allies in Congress.
Vance, who served in the Marines, 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.
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 Tim Walz should immediately be WITHDRAWN as the Vice President Nominee.”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.), an Air Force veteran, 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.”
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.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
