--- title: Tim Walz Was Charged With Drunk Driving in 1995 description: He has said the moment changed his life, prompting him to quit drinking. canonical: https://time.com/7008431/tim-walz-dui-drunk-driving/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-08-06T20:19:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:46.630Z article:section: Politics og:title: What to Know About Tim Walz' 1995 Drunk Driving Charge og:description: He has said the moment changed his life, prompting him to quit drinking. og:url: https://time.com/7008431/tim-walz-dui-drunk-driving/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2e0e80c72f8697c/698a59ab09208ffb0841d779/GettyImages-2159865817.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-ELECTION-BIDEN-VOTE-GOVERNORS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Know About Tim Walz' 1995 Drunk Driving Charge twitter:description: He has said the moment changed his life, prompting him to quit drinking. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2e0e80c72f8697c/698a59ab09208ffb0841d779/GettyImages-2159865817.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What to Know About Tim Walz' 1995 Drunk Driving Charge > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Kamala Harris Introduces Running Mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at Rally in Philadelphia [Watch (HLS stream): Kamala Harris Introduces Running Mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at Rally in Philadelphia](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vZrdJ2Rt.m3u8) (5:09)  _Published 2024-08-07. Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate for the 2024 presidential election, elevating the progressive midwestern Democrat whose clear and caustic messaging about former President Donald Trump—labeling him “weird”—has gone viral in recent weeks._  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Aug 6, 2024 8:19 PM UTC  Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks to reporters after a meeting at the White House on July 3, 2024. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks to reporters after a meeting at the White House on July 3, 2024. Jim Watson—AFP via Getty Images  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Aug 6, 2024 8:19 PM UTC It’s an episode in his life that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz points to as the reason he stopped drinking. In 1995, Walz was a 31-year-old high school teacher living in Nebraska when he was pulled over for speeding, failed a sobriety test, and was arrested, according to court documents posted online two years ago by [Alpha News,](https://alphanews.org/court-transcript-sheds-new-light-on-walzs-dui-arrest/) a conservative site based in Minnesota. He later pleaded guilty to reckless driving. Since that night, Walz has served with the Army National Guard, rising to the rank of command sergeant major, won six Congressional races, and was elected to two terms as Governor of Minnesota. And now, Vice President Kamala Harris has [picked](https://time.com/7007841/kamala-harris-vice-president-tim-walz/) him to be her running mate. Soon after Walz’ name emerged on Harris’ shortlist, supporters of former President Donald Trump began sharing details of Walz' nearly 30-year-old DUI on social media. In an 2018 interview with the [Minneapolis Star Tribune,](https://www.startribune.com/tim-walz-s-campaign-for-minnesota-governor-aims-to-bridge-the-great-divide/495297961) Walz described the episode as a gut-check moment. He had gotten married the year before. That night, he was driving home from watching college football with some friends. His wife Gwen Walz described to the Star Tribune how she told her husband after the arrest that now that he’s married, he has obligations and “can’t make dumb choices.” The officer at the scene noted that Walz’s silver Miata was going 96 miles per hour in an area where the speed limit was 55\. When Walz saw a car pull out quickly behind him, he sped up thinking someone was chasing him, Walz’s lawyer explained to the court. Walz stopped when the officer turned on the patrol car’s flashing lights. After his arrest, Walz’s license was suspended for 90 days. He offered to resign his teaching job at Alliance High School, but the principal talked him out of it, according to court documents. The judge in the case agreed to reduce the charge from a DUI to reckless driving and fine Walz $200 plus court costs. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7008431/tim-walz-dui-drunk-driving/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7008431/tim-walz-dui-drunk-driving/"},"headline":"What to Know About Tim Walz' 1995 Drunk Driving Charge","datePublished":"2024-08-06T20:19:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:46.630Z","description":"He has said the incident prompted him to quit drinking","url":"https://time.com/7008431/tim-walz-dui-drunk-driving/","keywords":["Kamala Harris","Explainer"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2e0e80c72f8697c/698a59ab09208ffb0841d779/GettyImages-2159865817.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brian Bennett","jobTitle":"Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2e0e80c72f8697c/698a59ab09208ffb0841d779/GettyImages-2159865817.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-ELECTION-BIDEN-VOTE-GOVERNORS","caption":"US-POLITICS-ELECTION-BIDEN-VOTE-GOVERNORS","creditText":"Jim Watson—AFP via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/kamala-harris/","name":"Kamala Harris"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7008431/tim-walz-dui-drunk-driving/","name":"What to Know About Tim Walz' 1995 Drunk Driving Charge"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Kamala Harris Introduces Running Mate Minnesota Gov. 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