Tim Walz’s Political Origin Story Is Reportedly Full Of Holes

Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz’s story about why he first decided to get involved in political campaigns contradicts public records and statements reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

Walz, who previously had a career as a social studies teacher, has long repeated a story about how he and two of his students were refused entry to a reelection rally for former President George W. Bush in 2004, saying that the incident was ultimately what inspired him to get involved in politics, according to the Examiner. However, Walz himself was not refused entry, according to a source who spoke anonymously with the Examiner, and the two “students” Walz brought to the event were actually teenagers who went to different high schools than the one he taught at and who had a public altercation with Bush staffers days prior to the event, public records show.

Walz himself has offered contradictory accounts of this purported origin story.