Sen. Mark Kelly Condemns Vance For Criticizing Walz’s Military Record

On Wednesday, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) critized Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) for attacking the military record of Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Earlier on Wednesday, at a Michigan event, Vance accused his opponent of “stolen valor” for leaving the National Guard in 2005 shortly after his battalion was ordered to deploy to the Iraq war, and for falsely claiming to have served in the war.

“What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage,” said Vance, who served in the Marines.

“I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war?… Do not pretend to be something that you’re not,” 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.”

The Republican senator appeared to be referencing a viral clip posted on social media Wednesday by the Harris campaign featuring Walz.

In the clip, Walz discusses gun control and states, “We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war.”

Although Vance admitted he also hasn’t seen real combat, he emphasized his 2005 deployment to Iraq as a reporter in the Marines’ public affairs unit.

In response to Vance’s attacks on Walz, Kelly posted on X, “Hey JD Vance, did you forget what the [United States Marine Corps] taught you about respect? Tim Walz spent decades in uniform.”

“You both deserve to be thanked for your service,” continued Kelly, a retired Navy captain who served in Operation Desert Storm. “Don’t become [former President] Donald Trump. He calls veterans suckers and losers and that is beneath those of us who have actually served.”

Kelly, a former Navy officer who became a NASA astronaut and launched a surveillance balloon venture before being elected to the Senate, was a top contender to be Harris’s running mate but was ultimately passed over in favor of Walz.

In a statement on Thursday, Vance’s press secretary, Luke Schroeder, reiterated Vance’s criticism of Walz’s military career.

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,” said Schroeder.

“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. Maybe Mark Kelly would have been a better VP pick after all,” he concluded.