The photo first appeared on X and was shared by Charles Herbster, a former Nebraska gubernatorial candidate who had Trump’s backing in 2022. Herbster’s spokesman Rod Edwards confirmed that the people in the photo are indeed related to Tim Walzaccording to AP. “The family in the picture are the descendants of Francis Walz, the brother of Tim Walz’s grandfather,” Edwards said.
In a twist of Family dramaThe Nebraska Roll Clan confirmed their relationship to Tim Walz. “Shortly after Governor Tim Walz was named the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, our family got together. We had T-shirts made to show our support for President Trump and D. Vance and took a group photo. This photo was shared with friends and when asked for permission to publish the image, we agreed,” said the written statement, reported by AP. “The image is real. The T-shirts are real. We are the Nebraska Walzs and we are related to Governor Tim Walz, our grandfathers were brothers.”
Sandy Dietrich, Walz’s sister from Alliance, Nebraska, seemed confused by the attention. “I suspected it might be people from that branch of the family. We weren’t close to them. We didn’t know them,” she said. Dietrich and Walz’s father, James Walz, died of lung cancer in 1984 when the future congressman and governor of Minnesota was still a teenager. His father was a school superintendent in Valentine, Nebraska.
Dietrich, who calls herself a “Democrat for Tim,” focused on her own political choices, saying, “I know who I’m voting for. That’s all I can control.”
To add even more spice to the story, Tim Walz’s older brother, Jeff Walzhas made his displeasure public. Jeff, who now lives in Freeport, Florida, has been vocal in his disapproval of his younger brother’s political ideology. The New York Post reported on Jeff’s Facebook comments in which he said, “The stories I could tell. Not the kind of person you want to let make decisions about your future.” Jeff even considered supporting Trump himself!
Jeff Walz later clarified to NewsNation that his comments were more about childhood memories than political bitterness. Jeff said he and the 60-year-old governor had not spoken since the funeral of their younger brother, Craig Walz, in 2016, aside from a brief phone call last month about their mother. “Nobody wanted to sit with him because he was getting car sick and kept throwing up, stuff like that,” Jeff said, adding, “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.”
As Tim Walz’s campaign for vice president continues, the viral photo and family feuds add an additional layer of intrigue to the political landscape
