As Walz’s name rose in the vice-presidential candidate rankings, conservative operatives began to resurface a purported photo of the Minnesota governor: an alleged 1995 mug shot taken after Walz was arrested in his home state of Nebraska due to suspicion of drunk driving.
The incident emerged in 2006 when Walz first ran for Congress in Minnesota but did not hinder his ultimately successful bid. In 1995, a 31-year-old Walz was arrested and jailed after he was seen going 91 mph in a 55-mph zone, per a piece from the Rochester Post-Bulletin. Walz failed a field sobriety test and a preliminary breath test, according to an affidavit filed by a Nebraska state trooper.
He would later plead guilty to reckless driving and pay a $200 fine. In an interview with the outlet, Walz’s campaign manager at the time insisted that Walz was not drunk and attributed the arrest to his later-corrected deafness that he had as a result of his time in the Army National Guard. However, Walz categorized the incident as a moment of change for him in a 2018 interview with the Star-Tribune, saying he no longer consumes alcohol and that Diet Mountain Dew is now his drink of choice.
Source link