Following the news that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s (D) brother, Jeff Walz, doesn’t support his brother’s politics, it seems that other, more distant members of Walz’s family might not be backing him in the 2024 race, either.
In a new photo, members of Walz’s family posed wearing “Nebraska Walz’s for Trump” T-shirts in front of “Trump 2024 Take Back America” flag. Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 election, was born and raised in Nebraska.
The Daily Mail reported today that the photo shows individuals related to Walz via his great-uncle, or his grandfather’s brother, making most people in the photo likely his second cousins.
In a statement to the Daily Dot, John Walz, who is pictured in the photo wearing a baseball cap, said the Nebraska Walzes had the T-shirts made shortly after Walz was announced as Harris’ running mate. John Walz also said his family gave permission for the photo to be shared online.
“The picture is real. The shirts are real,” John Walz told the Daily Dot. “The message on the shirts speaks for itself.”
The photo went viral on X after it was posted by Charles W. Herbster, who told the Daily Mail that he is a friend of the Walz family.
“Tim Walz’s family back in Nebraska wants you to know something,” Herbster wrote in a tweet alongside the picture.
A similar photo showing some of the same family members was also posted over the weekend by another X user.
Many X users said the photo’s existence proved that voters shouldn’t support the Harris-Walz campaign, suggesting former President Donald Trump should invite the Walz family members to one of his campaign rallies.
“If Tampon China Tim’s own family doesn’t support him, why does Kamala think he’d be a great choice for America!” one X user tweeted.
When Walz was announced as Harris’ running mate, some right-wingers dubbed him “Tampon Tim” over a Minnesota bill that put free menstrual products in all public school bathrooms. Some on the right have also raised suspicions about Walz’s teaching career, during which he taught in China and accepted some funding from China to take his students to the country for school trips.
Others overhyped the connection to Walz, claiming it was his whole, immediate family.
“The *entire* family of Kamala Harris running mate Tim Walz just endorsed TRUMP,” right-wing influencer Benny Johnson tweeted. “This is the greatest troll of the 2024 election.”
“Trump should invite them all down for his next rally,” an X user tweeted.
Some were suspicious of the photo and pointed to a family member appearing to only have four fingers on their left hand as proof that the image was AI-generated, despite no evidence to bak up their claim.
“So, I guess we are supposed to believe that the Walz family has some genetic disorder that causes missing fingers,” an X user said of the photo. “Either that or it’s AI.”
What is true is that a number of respondents noticed that the shirts might have been improved if they gave their governor relative a chance to look at them.
“It’s one of the more difficult things in English, but Walz’s is incorrect. It should be Walzes. They got group shirts made without checking. This is probably one of the things they fight about with their cousin who is advanced in education and social class,” said one.
Walz taught high school for decades. His wife Gwen was an English teacher.
This post has been updated with comment from John Walz.
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