How Tim Walz Weathered A Barrage Of Early Republican Attacks

Ahead of Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, Donald Trump’s Republican presidential campaign went back to the well.

On Monday morning, the campaign held a press call with Tom Behrends, a retired command sergeant major who served in the National Guard with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president. Behrends has become famous in conservative circles for his attacks on Walz, whom he replaced as the unit’s command sergeant major when Walz retired.

“When the nation called, Tim Walz hung up and ran the other way,” Behrends said, reiterating claims he’d made in 2018 when Walz first ran for governor, in 2022 when he ran for reelection and in August, after he first accepted the vice presidential nomination. “When his 500 soldiers needed him most, he deserted his post and his unit.”

Allies of Walz are decidedly OK with this line of attack. “There’s a group of, like, four right-wing guys who served with Walz, and every single time we run they do this,” a source close to the Minnesota governor said. “Obviously, it doesn’t land.”

Republicans’ reliance on recycled attacks has been part of the recipe for Walz to become the most popular member of either presidential ticket, allowing him to follow the first rule of being a vice presidential nominee: Do no harm. Though he has not fundamentally changed the election, he’s becoming a reliable campaigner for the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, especially in Wisconsin and Michigan, two states where the cultural milieu is similar to Walz’s Minnesota.

“He came from a humble background,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told HuffPost. “I think people, once they have time to know him, have liked him, and that’s because he’s true to