Walz’s Decades-Old Drunken Driving Arrest Draws New Attention

On the night of Sept. 23, 1995, a 31-year-old Tim Walz was pulled over by a Nebraska state trooper for driving a silver Mazda at 96 miles per hour in a 55 m.p.h. zone. The officer smelled alcohol, and after Mr. Walz failed a field sobriety test and a preliminary breath test, he was arrested and initially charged with speeding and driving while intoxicated.

At the time, Mr. Walz was living in Alliance, Neb., coaching football, teaching at Alliance High School and serving in the Nebraska Army National Guard. His political career would not begin for more than a decade. He ultimately agreed to resolve the issue in court by pleading to a reduced charge of reckless driving, a misdemeanor, and paying a $200 fine.

But the issue was not resolved in the court of public opinion, where it has resurfaced periodically throughout the Minnesota governor’s career and, now that he’s been selected by Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate, is bubbling up once again.

In the past few days, critics of Mr. Walz have peppered social media with posts about the arrest, along with his mug shot and grainy scans of the arresting officer’s affidavit, labeling the politician a criminal who is unfit to serve.

Defenders of the governor have dismissed the offense as not only minor, but very old — something from nearly three decades ago now. They have also pointed out that George W. Bush had a quarter-century old drunken-driving arrest on his record when he ran successfully for president in 2000, and that Representative Tom Emmer, a Republican from Minnesota who serves as the majority whip, was twice arrested on suspicions of driving drunk as a young man.

Still, part of the anecdote’s staying power might rest in the way Mr. Walz’s story has