In recent days, Jeff Walz – the conservative older brother of vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz – has become something of a fascination for the right.
It started last week when right-wing activist Laura Loomer drew attention to the elder Walz’s March 30, 2023, Facebook post, when the Manhattan district attorney filed charges against former President Donald Trump.
“We have just become a Third World banana republic,” wrote Jeff Walz that day.
On Friday, he expanded on those views, writing on Facebook that he was “100 percent against” his brother’s ideology and had thought “long and hard” about supporting Trump.
“The stories I could tell,” wrote Jeff Walz. “Not the kind of character you want making decisions about your own future.”
This sparked speculation in the right-wing camp that Walz’s brother was willing to reveal incriminating information about the governor of Minnesota.
Republicans have been scrutinizing Walz since Vice President Kamala Harris picked him as her running mate, focusing in particular on the Minnesota governor’s statements about Walz’s military service and the fertility treatments his family has sought.
“Sounds like a great guy!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in response to a New York Post report about Jeff Walz.
But in an interview with NewsNation on Wednesday, the elder Walz said he would not campaign for or against his brother. He said it was “not my intention … to influence the public with my comments” and indicated he would no longer speak publicly about his brother.
And the “stories” Walz alluded to were not what some had expected. For example, his younger brother sometimes “puked” on his siblings during car rides because of motion sickness.
“Nobody wanted to sit with him because he was sick and throwing up, stuff like that,” Jeff Walz said. “There’s really nothing else hidden there. People assume something else. There are other stories like that, but I think that probably gives you the gist of it.”
Jeff Walz added that he has not spoken to his brother since 2016, aside from a brief conversation mediated by his mother last month. He also said he learned of his younger brother’s nomination for vice president on the radio.
“We felt bad when we heard on the radio that he was being named vice presidential candidate,” Jeff Walz told NewsNation. “And we felt like we should have been given at least a little warning and some kind of reassurance because I guess this is a big deal.”
