GOP Candidate Suggested He Saw Combat When He Didn't
In his first run for Congress in 2020, Minnesota Republican candidate Tyler Kistner repeatedly claimed to have seen combat in the Marine Corps, but records prove this is untrue.
So now the Republican trying to unseat the first out LGBTQ+ member of Congress from that state, Rep. Angie Craig, is trying to explain the discrepancy.A spokesman for Kistner said he was referring to when he led combat missions in the noncombat region of North Africa, advising and assisting partner forces against violent extremist organizations, the Minnesota Reformer reports.As the outlet stated, he would have received a combat action ribbon if he had fought in combat; however, he never received one.
Military definitions of combat include engagement against an enemy on the ground in a combat zone.The progressive veterans group VoteVets requested that local television stations remove ads that said Kistner had served in four combat deployments.
The group, which is supporting Craig in the upcoming election, asked KARE, KSTP, KMSP, WCCO, and several streaming services to remove the advertisement, according to the Reformer.
