Former SEAL elected to the U.S. Senate
During the campaign, Tim Sheehy admitted lying about a bullet wound he claimed he suffered in Afghanistan
Updated to reflect seven former SEALs won election to Congress Tuesday.
Republican Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL officer whose campaign was dogged by accusations that he lied about his service, was elected to a U.S. Senate seat in Montana.
Sheehy, who turns 39 this month, became the first former SEAL to hold a seat in the U.S. Senate since Medal of Honor winner Bob Kerry, D-Neb., left office in 2001. Six other former SEALs will be serving in the House. Newcomer John McGuire, R-Va., was elected Tuesday, joining five incumbent former SEALs who won re-election.
Sheehy was awarded a Bronze Star for valor and a Purple Heart but faced sharp questions for months over a bullet wound he claimed he suffered in 2012 in Afghanistan. Evidence emerged that Sheehy had made up the story.
In 2015, Sheehy told a ranger in Glacier National Park that he accidentally shot himself in the right arm when his Colt .45 revolver fell and discharged. Sheehy paid a $525 fine for discharging a firearm in a national park. “Due to my ongoing security clearance and involvement with national defense-related contracts, I request leniency with any charge related to this unfortunate accident,” he wrote in a statement.
When The Washington Post learned earlier this year of the incident in Glacier, Sheehy said he had admitted to something that never happened. He claimed that he lied to the ranger about the gunshot because he was hit by friendly fire in Afghanistan and didn’t want to see his teammates dragged through the mud. No gun went off in the park, Sheehy insisted; he had injured his arm while hiking.
To some, Sheehy’s explanation sounded like BS. The ranger, Kim Peach, was certain Sheehy shot himself. Peach told The New York Times he checked Sheehy’s Colt .45 and counted five live rounds and one empty shell casing.
In the campaign’s final weeks, Dave Madden, a former SEAL officer who trained with Sheehy and deployed with him to Afghanistan, called out his former teammate for lying. “He shot himself in the arm, and then he decided that wasn't a convenient story for selling himself as a war hero,” Madden said in an ad for the Democratic WinSenate SuperPAC.
That prompted a furious response by several former SEALs, who said Madden’s comments were “slanderous, unbecoming of our community, disgraceful, and wrong.” Mike Hayes, who commanded Sheehy and Madden during their 2012 deployment to Afghanistan, told Fox that "Tim Sheehy’s reputation as a SEAL is one of total dedication, personal sacrifice, and bravery. Dave Madden’s statements about Tim are disgraceful, misguided, and wrong.
Sheehy earned a Bronze Star for his actions in April 2012 when his patrol came under fire in the Arghandab River Valley in Afghanistan. Sheehy ran 50 meters through enemy fire to aid a wounded teammate, pulling him to safety and shielding him from harm. He then led a counterattack on the enemy, killing two insurgents.
Bo Reichenbach, another former SEAL, credited Sheehy with saving his life in another firefight a month later.
Sheehy got other details about his service wrong, however. He claimed that he was medically discharged for injuries sustained on duty. NBC News obtained Sheehy’s discharge papers, which showed that he voluntarily resigned his commission and did not list any medical condition that forced him out of uniform.
In the end, the very real possibility that Sheehy had made up a story about getting shot in combat didn’t stop his meteoric political rise. The questions about his service were easily overcome as the former SEAL defeated three-term incumbent Democrat Jon Tester and the Republicans regained control of the U.S. Senate.