Harris campaign tweaks Walz biography amid scrutiny of military credentials

Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign updated its 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, the Harris campaign axed a reference to Walz as a “retired command sergeant major” and now says that he once served at the command sergeant major rank — a small change that nonetheless reflects his true rank at 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, where he became the most senior enlisted soldier to serve in Congress.

Led by GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance, a Marine Corps veteran who deployed to Iraq, Republicans have suggested that Walz inflated his credentials by calling himself a “retired command sergeant major.” The Minnesota governor did serve as a command sergeant major but was reverted back to the rank of master sergeant when he left the military because he had not completed required coursework for the higher rank with the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.

Similar accusations have followed Walz in previous campaigns, including his 2018 race for governor, when a paid letter to the editor written by two retired command sergeant majors alleged that Walz misrepresented his rank during the campaign. Walz went on to win that race.

“The son of an Army veteran who served as a command sergeant major, Walz was the ranking member on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, where he passed legislation to help stem veterans’ suicides,” the Harris campaign’s biography of Walz now reads.

In the original biography, the same sentence called Walz “the son of an Army veteran and a retired Command Sergeant Major in the Army National Guard himself,” website archives show. A Harris campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Walz’s gubernatorial office in Minnesota, the website for which still describes him as “Command Sergeant Major Walz.” Walz’s campaign website for governor also used this title.

"Walz attained the rank of command sergeant major and served in that role but retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes due to not completing additional coursework," Army public affairs officer Lt. Col. Kristen Augé said in a previous statement to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.