Tim Walz came out "swinging" on Tuesday during his first appearance as Kamala Harris' running mate at a rally in Philly, going hard on GOP nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance. Now, however, come the inevitable hits on Walz, including the resurfacing of a nearly 30-year-old drunk driving charge that led to the vice presidential candidate swearing off booze. Time reports that the incident happened in 1995, when Walz was a 31-year-old teacher in his home state of Nebraska and was stopped for speeding.
Per the Washington Post, Walz was pulled over going 96mph in a 55mph zone, after he said he'd been watching college football with friends. According to court documents that popped up on a conservative website two years ago, he failed both a field sobriety test and a breath test after the state trooper who pulled him over said he smelled alcohol on Walz's breath. A court transcript notes that, according to then-Dawes County Attorney Rex Nowlan, Walz's blood alcohol level was .128 at the time.
Walz's lawyer explained to the court that his client thought someone was chasing him, which is why he sped up, and that he pulled over once the officer turned on the patrol car's flashing lights. Walz's 2006 House campaign said then that Walz wasn't drunk, and that due to partial deafness suffered during his time in the National Guard, there'd simply been a miscommunication between himself and the officer, per the New York Times.
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However, in 2018, Walz told the Star Tribune that the incident had been a "gut-check moment," and that he'd decided after that to not drink alcohol again, opting instead to make Diet Mountain Dew his drink of choice. His wife, Gwen Walz, also told the paper that she'd said to her husband after the arrest, "You have obligations to people. You can't make dumb choices." Walz ended up pleading guilty to reckless driving. His driver's license was suspended for 90 days as a result, he paid a fine of $200 (plus court costs), and he offered to resign from his teaching job at Alliance High School, though the principal of the school talked him out of it, per court docs. (More Tim Walz stories.)
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