Reports: NW Ohio Congressional candidate lied about serving in Afghanistan

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Documents obtained in a public records request show an Ohio Congressional candidate misrepresented his military service by lying about a deployment to Afghanistan, according to reports.

The Republican candidate for Ohio’s 9th Congressional district, J.R. Majewski, is facing public criticism after the Associated Press obtained military documents that indicate he never deployed to Afghanistan, as he’s previously depicted, and instead completed a six-month stint loading planes at an air base in Qatar.

Majewski has previously described “tough” conditions in a deployment to Afghanistan after 9/11 that included a lack of running water. The documents obtained by AP show he was never deployed there but was instead in Qatar, a U.S. ally that is a safe distance from the fighting.

Majewski’s campaign has touted him as a “combat” veteran in the past. Majewski said last year he would “gladly suit up and go back to Afghanistan tonight and give my best to save those Americans who were abandoned” in a tweet criticizing President Biden’s handling of the U.S. withdrawal from the country.

13abc has reached out to Majewski for comment and has not yet heard back. AP reports that Majewski’s campaign declined an interview and did not address questions about his claims of being deployed to Afghanistan in a statement he provided.

“I am proud to have served my country,” Majewski told the Associated Press. “My accomplishments and record are under attack, meanwhile, career politician Marcy Kaptur has a forty-year record of failure for my Toledo community, which is why I’m running for Congress.”

Majewski’s opponent in the race for Ohio’s 9th Congressional district, incumbent Marcy Kaptur, released a statement addressing the reports on Wednesday, saying “the truth matters.”

“As the only Ohioan on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, I know so many veterans – including those in my own family – who have served our grateful nation with honor,” Kaptur said in a statement. “I have listened closely to their stories; their valor and unselfish heroism drives me to deliver for them each and every day.”

She adds that she finds the reports baffling.

“The idea that anyone, much less a candidate for the United States Congress, would mislead voters about their service in combat is an affront to every man and woman who has proudly worn the uniform of our great country. J.R. Majewski owes each of these heroes a full explanation about his deception,” Kaptur wrote.

In a written statement, Nebeyatt Betre, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman, described the falsification as “downright shameful”.

“Majewski’s lie is downright shameful and an affront to every veteran who actually deployed and served in Afghanistan. He is undeniably dangerous, clearly detached from reality, and completely undeserving to represent Ohioans – especially Ohio’s combat veterans- in Congress,” Betre wrote.

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