Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has updated her online biography of running mate Tim Walz’s military service amid Republican efforts to question his record in the Army National Guard.
On its website, Harris’s campaign has removed a reference to Walz as a “retired command sergeant major” and now says he once served at the rank of command sergeant major — a slight change that nonetheless reflects his true rank upon retirement from the Army National Guard. Walz, the governor of Minnesota, served for 24 years in the National Guard before retiring in 2005 from the military to run for the U.S. House of Representatives, where he became the highest-ranking enlisted soldier to serve in Congress.
Led by the Republican vice presidential candidate JD VanceRepublicans have suggested that Walz, a Marine veteran who was deployed to Iraq, inflated his credentials by calling himself a “retired command sergeant major.” The Minnesota governor served as a command sergeant major but was demoted to the rank of master sergeant when he left the military because he had not completed the courses required for the higher rank at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.
Similar allegations have dogged Walz in previous campaigns, including his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, when a paid letter to the editor written by two retired sergeants major alleged that Walz misrepresented his rank during the campaign. Walz won that campaign.
“The son of an Army veteran who served as a command sergeant major, Walz was the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, where he passed legislation to help curb veteran suicides,” reads Walz’s biography now published by Harris’ campaign.
In the original bio, the same line called Walz “the son of an Army veteran and a retired Army National Guard command sergeant major,” website archives show. A spokesman for Harris’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Walz’s office for governor in Minnesota, whose website still describes him as “Command Sergeant Major Walz.” Walz’s gubernatorial campaign website also used this title.
“Walz achieved the rank of command sergeant major and served in that capacity, but retired as a sergeant major in 2005 for benefits due to his failure to complete additional coursework,” Army public affairs officer Lt. Col. Kristen Augé said in a statement. Pre-statement to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.