The Dark Detail From VP Candidate Tim Walz's Past That Resurfaced During The 2024 Election
Democratic VP candidate Tim Walz might not be a weird and misogynistic cat lady hater like his Republican counterpart, J.D. Vance, but that doesn't mean Walz's cupboard is entirely free of skeletons. Court documents revealed that the former Governor of Minnesota has a singular criminal record for drunk driving. On the night of September 23, 1995, Walz was speeding across an empty highway near Alliance, Nebraska when the 31-year-old high school teacher and sports coach was spotted by a state trooper. Records for the arrest show that he was going 96 mph despite the 55 mph speed limit.
The trooper suspected that Walz was drunk and gave him a breathalyzer test, which he flopped. The trooper then ordered a sobriety test, which revealed that the future vice presidential nominee's alcohol blood level was 0.128. Given that Nebraska's limit was 0.1 at the time, Walz was 0.028 above the limit. To his credit, the beloved teacher reportedly took full accountability for his actions.
Walz immediately quit drinking, confessed to his employers at Alliance High School, and even acknowledged that he was guilty during the ensuing court case. "It's just a dangerous situation. Not just to myself, but to others who aren't even involved with it," Walz said (via Alpha News). He also took the opportunity to talk to his students about the dangers of drinking, urging them to learn from his mistakes.
Kamala Harris' VP pick later changed his story
A year later, Tim Walz and his wife, Gwen Walz, moved to Minnesota to continue their educational careers. But by 2006, Tim had set his sights on politics and won a seat in Congress to represent Minnesota's first district. He held this post until 2018, when Tim decided to run for Governor. Thanks to the higher stakes, it didn't take long for the congressman's competitors to dig up dirt about his dark past. In response, Tim's campaign manager, Kerry Greeley, gave the press an entirely different story, claiming that he hadn't been inebriated on the night of the arrest. "He couldn't understand what the officer was saying to him," she claimed (via Post Bulletin).
Greeley clarified that her client was partly deaf and couldn't comprehend the sobriety test instructions given to him. Likewise, the accompanying balance issues didn't help matters. She added that the judge had sided with Tim, scolded the officer, and dismissed the case. In reality, the former teacher's lawyer actually begged for leniency. "He takes the position that he's a role model for the students there. He let them down. He let himself down," his attorney explained in court, adding that Walz even considered quitting his job (via The Daily Beast). The judge offered a plea deal and a $200 fine if he pled guilty to a less serious reckless driving charge.
Tim Walz has also been accused of deserting his fellow soldiers
Outside of his DUI, Tim Walz faced another accusation that claimed he resigned from the National Guard to avoid being deployed to Iraq. Walz had initially enlisted at age 17 in 1981 and resigned in 2005 after over two decades of service. Following his resignation in May 2005, his unit was ordered to prepare for deployment in July. However, despite Tim Walz's dark past, the accusations of desertion were easily debunked.
In August 2024, the Minnesota National Guard released a statement to Fox News reporting that Walz had actually submitted his resignation request five to seven months before exiting the service in May. That means Walz had begun the retirement process well before his unit was ever informed about a potential deployment. Nevertheless, the facts haven't stopped GOP lawmakers from hurling false accusations. JD Vance took to X, formerly Twitter, to accuse Walz of dropping out to avoid serving in Iraq.
USA Representative Ronny Jackson also posted a similar accusation on X that claimed Walz turned "HIS BACK on the soldiers in his unit because he was TOO afraid to deploy to Iraq!!" Ironically, Jackson, who served in the US Navy, was demoted by the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense thanks to his "sexually inappropriate" behaviors and "failure to treat subordinates with dignity and respect." In contrast, Tim Walz's former students revealed he was compassionate and voted the "most inspiring teacher."