Tim Walz’s 2006 campaign falsely described details about his arrest for drunk driving in 1995

When Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz first ran for Congress in 2006, his campaign repeatedly made false statements about the details of his 1995 arrest for drunk and reckless driving.

According to court and police records connected to the incident, Walz admitted in court that he had been drinking when he was pulled over for driving 96 mph in a 55 mph zone in Nebraska. Walz was then transported by a state trooper to a local hospital for a blood test, showing he had a blood alcohol level of .128, well above the state’s legal limit of 0.1 at the time.

But in 2006, his campaign repeatedly told the press that he had not been drinking that night, claiming that his failed field sobriety test was due to a misunderstanding related to hearing loss from his time in the National Guard. The campaign also claimed that Walz was allowed to drive himself to jail that night.

None of that was true.

A CNN KFile review of statements made by the Walz campaign at the time reveals numerous discrepancies between how the campaign described the events and the facts of what actually took place that night.

“The DUI charge was dropped for a Reason: it wasn’t true,” Walz’s then-campaign communications director told local news in 2006. “The trooper had him drive to the station and then leave on his own after being at the station. Tim feels bad about speeding and has paid the ticket and apologized to his family at the time it happened.”

In fact, the incident’s police report clearly states that Walz was transported by police to a local hospital for blood alcohol testing after being arrested. And this week, Nebraska state police confirmed to CNN that Walz was taken by a state trooper to jail.

“Under NSP procedure, a person suspected of impaired driving is not allowed to continue driving,” Cody Thomas, a spokesman for the Nebraska State Patrol, told CNN. “In this case, the suspect was transported by the trooper and was lodged in Dawes County Jail.”

Now that Walz is the Democratic nominee for vice president, renewed scrutiny is being paid to the details of his 1995 arrest and how his campaign described the incident a decade later as he launched his political career.

Walz has subsequently acknowledged the facts of the case, admitting during his 2018 campaign for governor of Minnesota that he had been drinking and driving.

On Tuesday, the Daily Beast published an interview with the state trooper who arrested Walz. He disputed claims that Walz had not been drinking and noted that sobriety test had nothing to do with hearing.

The Harris-Walz campaign declined to comment for this story.

Driving drunk at 96 mph

On the night of September 23, 1995, Walz, then a 31-year-old high school teacher, was pulled over by a Nebraska state trooper for speeding, having been clocked on radar as going 96 mph in a 55 mph zone. According to the police report, the state trooper detected a strong odor of alcohol on Walz’s breath and requested he take a field sobriety test.

Walz failed the test and was transported by a state trooper to a local hospital for a blood test showing he had a blood alcohol level of .128 – well above the state’s legal limit of 0.1 at the time.

This photo from the Dawes County Sheriff's Office in Nebraska shows Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in 1995 following his arrest for driving under the influence.

Walz took a plea deal, court records show, pleading guilty to reckless driving. In a court hearing in March 1996, Walz admitted that he had been drinking and driving.
His lawyer said Walz intended to use the incident as a way to educate his students on the perils of drinking and driving.

“It’s just a dangerous situation,” Walz said in a court transcript, which Alpha News, a conservative Minnesota outlet uncovered in 2022. “Not just to myself, but to others who aren’t even involved with it.”

In court, Walz’s defense attorney said that when the state trooper started following him, Walz believed someone was chasing him and sped up out of fear that he was being pursued until the trooper turned on his police lights.

Walz’s attorney added that he reported the incident to his school and resigned from extracurricular activities such as coaching. He offered to resign his teaching position entirely, his lawyer said, but the principal urged him to stay on.

False statements in 2006

In 2006, Walz’s congressional campaign offered a very different version of events in numerous statements, according to a CNN KFile review of statements to various local press.

Tim Walz arrives at a campaign event featuring former Vice President Walter Mondale in 2006 in Owatonna, Minnesota.

That year, Walz as a first time candidate was in a tight congressional race in the Republican-held district.

Then in early September, a local Republican blog ran the story, “Walz jailed for DUI,” based on a copy of Walz’s ticket for speeding and DUI.

Walz’s campaign disputed that he had been drunk – and claimed he had driven himself to the station. They did not mention whether or not Walz had been jailed.

The local GOP blog later posted a copy of the police report from the incident to suggest Walz’s campaign was lying in their claims he wasn’t drunk – but no one in the local press appeared to have followed up on the report.

Walz’s then campaign communications director did not return a CNN request for comment.

In another comment to a local newspaper, archived online by the liberal blog Daily Kos, Walz’s campaign said he denied being drunk.

“According to Walz’s campaign staff, Walz denies being drunk the night of the incident. Walz was hard of hearing, a result of his years as an artillery soldier in the Army National Guard, and had trouble hearing the trooper, according to Meredith Salsbery, communications director for the Walz campaign,” read the report in the New Ulm Journal, a local newspaper.

“He couldn’t understand what the trooper was telling him during the field sobriety test, and the trooper refused to speak up,” Salsbery said at the time.

‘The DUI charges were dropped for a reason,’ Salsbery added. “The judge would not have dismissed them if there were anything to them. Tim drove to the police station that night (after being stopped), and he drove home afterwards. I don’t think the trooper would have allowed that if he thought there was a problem.’”

His campaign manager told a similar story to another local paper.

“Walz’s campaign manager Kerry Greeley didn’t dispute that Walz was speeding when he was pulled over that night, but she said Walz was not drunk. She attributed the misunderstanding to Walz’s deafness, a condition resulting from his years of serving as an artillerist in the Army National Guard,” read an article in the Post Bulletin.

“He couldn’t understand what the officer was saying to him,” Greeley said.

“She said deaf people also can have balance issues. The judge eventually threw out the DUI charges against Walz and chastised the officer for not realizing that Walz was deaf, Greeley said,” the report added.

“He was caught speeding, he doesn’t deny it and that’s the end of it,” she added to the Star Tribune.

Greeley did not respond to a request from CNN for comment.

As Walz’s political career progressed, so did his explanation for his 1995 arrest.

In 2018, when running for governor, Walz offered a markedly different version of events.

According to Walz, the arrest was a life-changing moment, motivating him to change his behavior. He said he has since given up alcohol and his go-to drink is now Diet Mountain Dew.

“You have responsibilities to others,” Gwen Walz recalled telling her husband. “You can’t afford to make foolish decisions.”