Vulnerable Democrats Jon Tester, Sherrod Brown Remain Mum on Walz Amid Stolen Valor Accusations

Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Sherrod Brown (D-PA) remain silent about Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) misleading the public about his military service.

Breitbart News contacted Tester and Brown’s offices on Monday and Tuesday, asking whether they support Walz in light of reports that he misrepresented his military service. Press contacts for the senators did not reply to multiple comment requests.

Both men seek reelection in red states that have overwhelmingly voted for Republican officials in statewide races in recent years. Montana and Ohio notably went red for Trump in 2016 and 2020, while GOP candidates largely cleaned up in down-ballot races in 2020 in Montana and 2022 in Ohio.

Axios reports that Tester and Brown are keeping Harris “at arm’s length,” while Punch Bowl News has reported that neither of the senators will attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, next week.

The distancing comes as evidence has come to light that Walz misled the public about aspects of his military service and as he faces accusations of “stolen valor” from Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and others.

For example, in a video from 2018 of Walz that the Harris campaign tweeted out last Tuesday, he falsely claimed he carried weapons “in war” when he did not serve in combat. The Harris campaign claimed Walz “misspoke.”

What is more, his official biography on the Minnesota state website implies he retired at the rank of command sergeant major, or E-9, when he actually retired at the rank of master sergeant E-8 in 2005. Retired Army Command Sergeant Majors Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr wrote in a letter to the West Central Tribune in 2018 that Walz was conditionally promoted to command sergeant major, but he failed to meet the conditions, as Breitbart News reported.

“On September 17th, 2004 he was conditionally promoted to Command Sergeant Major. The conditions had been outlined to him when he was counseled and he signed the Statement of Agreement and Certification. If the conditions are not met, the promotion is null and void, like it never happened,” Behrends and Herr wrote.

They also wrote that his retirement in May 2005 came after his unit received a warning order to deploy to Iraq in March 2005. Walz notably filed to run for Congress before that order in February 2005.

However, as Breitbart News noted, another retired Army command sergeant major, Doug Julin, told CNN Friday he and other senior leaders were alerted about an upcoming Iraq deployment in the Fall of 2004. Julin said:

I’m going to kind of start of back in the fall of 2004, is what we received — my own commander and myself, of the 1st Brigade, 34th Infantry Division Brigade Combat Team, what’s called a notification of sourcing, which is a ‘NOS.’ We were informed that we would be alerted to go to Iraq within the next upcoming year or time period out there, start preparing your team, get your team together and let’s get the process in play.

He added that he met with Walz’s battalion following the NOS. Julin indicated this occurred before February 2005, the month Walz filed to run for Congress, though he did not say exactly when the meeting was, as Breitbart News noted. He also recalled that in February 2005, Walz told him at a Camp Ripley meeting that he “put a bid in for Congress.”

At a subsequent March 2005 meeting, which Julin said centered around “building a team to go forward to Iraq,” Walz said he was “going forward with the battalion,” Julin recalled:

After the meeting, Tim Walz came in and sat down with me because I talked to him before, and I said I need to know what his answer is at that time. He came in, we sat and talked, he told me, he says, “I have not been nominated, I’m going forward with the battalion.” I said, “Good. Let’s go. We got the team built, and we’re starting to build the team out there.”

But by a June 2005 meeting, Walz had “quit” and been replaced with Behrends.