Sen. J.D. Vance’s evidence-free accusation that his Democratic counterpart, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, dodged serving in the Iraq War has earned not only fact-checks but condemnation by veterans groups and former Vice President Mike Pence’s one-time chief of staff.
While in Michigan on Wednesday, Vance claimed that Walz—who served in his home state’s national guard for 24 years and deployed to Italy as part of the U.S. war in Afghanistan before retiring in 2005—abandoned his unit, and even asserted that Walz had “stolen valor.” The attack had been used against Walz in both his 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial campaigns, which he won.
Several publications soon corrected the record. As noted by CNN, it was two months after Walz retired in 2005 to run for Congress when his former unit received orders to deploy. Nevertheless, right-wing commentators have insisted on pushing the baseless claim, as Media Matters for America pointed out.
