Sen. Kelly jumps to defend Walz after his military career questioned

Sen. Mark Kelly called out GOP vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance for criticizing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s time in the military.

Mr. Vance, echoing many conservatives in social media and some of Mr. Walz’s ex-comrades, had said that the Democratic vice-presidential pick had ducked service in Iraq.

“Hey @JDVance, did you forget what the USMC taught you about respect? Tim Walz spent DECADES in uniform,” Mr. Kelly, Arizona Democrat, wrote Thursday on X.

“You both deserve to be thanked for your service. Don’t become Donald Trump. He calls veterans suckers and losers and that is beneath those of us who have actually served,” he said.

Both Mr. Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio, and Mr. Walz served in the military — the Marines and National Guard, respectively. Mr. Kelly also was an officer in the Navy and retired as a captain.

Despite the rebuke, Mr. Kelly did not say that Mr. Vance had said anything false.

Mr. Vance, Mr. Trump’s running mate, questioned Mr. Walz’s record Wednesday.

“When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, do you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him — a fact that he’s been criticized for aggressively by a lot of the people that he served with,” Mr. Vance said to reporters.

Mr. Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, ended his military career to run for Congress in 2005. His battalion deployed to Iraq shortly after.

“I think it’s shameful to prepare your unit to go to Iraq, to make a promise that you’re going to follow through, and then to drop out right before you actually have to go,” Mr. Vance said.

Mr. Walz is also accused of gilding the lily on his service record in other ways, such as calling himself a veteran of the Afghanistan war and claiming to have wielded weapons in battle.

Indeed, Mr. Vance’s comments were sparked by an X post the Harris campaign made Tuesday that featured a video of Mr. Walz talking about gun control and claiming to have been in a war.

“We can do CDC research. We can make sure we don’t have reciprocal carry among states,” he said in the clip. “And we can make sure that those weapons of war that I carry in war is the only place where those weapons are allowed.”

The Harris-Walz campaign specified Thursday that, “In his 24 years of service, the Governor carried, fired and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times. Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American’s service to this country — in fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country. It’s the American way.”