Why JD Vance and Tim Walz Need to Pay Attention to Veterans

Veteran Jim Whaley explained to Newsweek on Saturday why vice presidential candidates Ohio Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz should pay attention to veterans in the upcoming election.

For the first time in two decades, Republicans and Democrats have former military men on their presidential tickets with Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate, and Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.

Whaley, the CEO of Mission Roll Call, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for veterans’ issues and relies on their own polling to do so, told Newsweek via telephone on Saturday afternoon that having Vance, 40, and Walz, 60, as vice presidential candidates, “sends a great message that we value and continue to value the importance of service to the country.”

Vance served in the Marine Corps as a combat correspondent in Iraq between August 2005 and February 2006. Meanwhile, Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard at the age of 17 and served for 24 years before retiring in 2005.

Whaley, who served two decades in the U.S. Army, explained how the vice presidential candidates from both parties can best champion veterans’ issues.

“I think most veterans would like to see a robust discussion on the issues that are most important to veterans and we poll our veterans across the nation and they will tell you that it’s important that we have a discussion around veteran benefits, around veteran homelessness, and then access to health care,” Whaley said.

But how much of a difference could veteran voters and voters who care about veterans’ issues make in November’s election?

“Of the veterans that we poll, 97 percent are registered to vote,” Whaley said. “When you think about 18.5 million veterans in our country, that’s not a small number.”

Whaley said that number gets bigger when you factor in veterans’ families, caregivers, spouses and dependents.

“That’s a sizable block of voters that feel that veterans issues are very important,” he said.

When asked how Vance plans to champion veterans’ issues, Luke Schroeder, a spokesman for the senator, told Newsweek via email on Saturday afternoon: “The Trump-Vance administration will do more for veterans and our military than any other administration in modern history. They’ll ensure veterans receive the respect, treatment, and benefits they deserve, while also pursuing peace through strength on the world stage to prevent unnecessary wars in the future.”

He continued: “In his first term, President Trump’s VA Mission Act passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support. The legislation expanded veterans’ access to quality care and cut needless red tape, but Tim Walz voted no. That’s not the kind of leadership veterans need in Washington.”

Newsweek has reached out to Harris’ campaign via email for comment on Saturday afternoon.

What Issues Are Veterans Facing?

According to Whaley, food insecurity, underemployment, homelessness, and suicide are some of the issues plaguing the veteran community.

“We have nearly 1. 4 million veterans struggling with food insecurity in our country and over 60 percent of veterans report that they’re underemployed due to a systemic mismatching in their skills and education,” he said.

Even current servicemembers struggle with food insecurity. Whaley said, “Twenty-four percent of active-duty military have food insecurity issues.”

There are anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 veterans experiencing homelessness every night and 17 to 20 veterans take their lives every single day, Whaley said.

“It should not be a surprise that we’re having struggles as a nation in recruitment efforts, all those things are intertwined,” he said, adding that the struggles that veterans are facing “is a national security issue that should be discussed and should be debated.

“There has been no greater advocate for our brave military men and women than President Trump,” Trump’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Newsweek via email on Saturday afternoon. “Kamala Harris was the last person in the room during Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal of Afghanistan, and she owns every bit of that failure. Kamala Harris prioritizes luxury hotel rooms for illegal immigrants while our Veterans remain homeless on the street.”

Leavitt added that Trump “rebuilt the military” as president and that “veteran unemployment hit a record low” during his four years in office.

Last fiscal year, the military services collectively missed its recruitment goals by roughly 41,000 recruits, according to U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) official Ashish Vazirani.

“It would be great if both campaigns present a plan to help veterans transition to civilian life because right now that’s not working,” Whaley added.

Vance/Walz Military Service Drama

As the race to the White House heats up, Vance has criticized a recently resurfaced comment Walz made about being in combat from a political event in 2018, accusing the Minnesota governor of lying about his military service.

“What bothers me about Tim Waltz is the stolen valor garbage. Do not pretend to be something that you’re not,” Vance told reporters in Michigan on August 7.

Speaking about gun control, Walz, who was a U.S. representative at the time, said in the 2018 clip, “We can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.”

However, Walz never went to war. The Harris-Walz campaign recently said that the Minnesota governor “misspoke” at the time and Walz previously acknowledged that he never saw combat in an NPR News interview, in which he said, “I know that there are certainly folks that did far more than I did.”

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a Democrat and a veteran himself said on CNN last Sunday a veteran disparaging another veteran “goes against certainly everything I learned during my time in service.”

Meanwhile, at a campaign event in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Walz said, “To anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words: Thank you for your service and sacrifice.”

When asked how veterans felt about the recent Vance/Walz drama, Whaley said that he could only go based on the conversations he’s been having with veterans as Mission Roll Call has not polled this question.

“From the ones I speak to at different events and just normal life and those that I’ve served with and others we want to see the big problem solved,” Whaley said. “We want to see the issues that are really affecting veterans’ lives. If you’re struggling to get food on the table, I don’t think you really are paying attention to this banter that’s going on.”

Whaley did say that he thinks Vance and Walz “honor and love their time and service.”

“They both signed a blank check to serve their country. It would be great if we can, and I know it’s an election year and this could be naive, but it would be great if…both candidacies talk about what they’re going to do about changing the trajectory that veterans are on right now,” he added.

Mission Roll Call wants to make veterans’ voices heard on the local, state and federal level, Whaley said who urged veterans to visit Mission Roll Call’s website to participate in polls, volunteer and/or get involved with other organizations.

Update 8/17/24, 6:25 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Leavitt.