(NewsNation) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania, told supporters he needs “to talk to relatives too,” referencing reports of his brother and extended family showing support for former President Donald Trump.
“All of you know, I need to talk to relatives too,” KMSP-TV reported Walz said.
The Democratic vice presidential candidate was at the Highmark Amphitheater in Erie, Pennsylvania, campaigning in the swing state.
Jeff Walz speaks out
Walz’s older brother, Jeff, exclusively told NewsNation that he does not wish to influence voters despite his opposition to his brother’s views.
Jeff Walz’s Facebook posts caused a stir in both mainstream and social media as he described the Minnesota governor as “not the type of character you want making decisions about your future.”
Despite saying to his Facebook friends that he had “thought long and hard” about publicly endorsing Trump, he now wishes to be uninvolved in any political campaign.
“It wasn’t my intent, it wasn’t our intent as a family, to put something out there to influence the general public,” Jeff Walz told NewsNation.
Jeff Walz, who is a registered Republican and donated $20 to Trump’s 2016 campaign per the New York Post, explained his social media posts were intended to rebuke rhetoric that he was in lockstep with his brother’s views.
‘Nebraska Walz’s for Trump’ shirts go viral
Walz’s sister, Sandy Dietrich, says she didn’t recognize the people wearing “Nebraska Walz’s for Trump” T-shirts in a photo that is making the rounds on social media. It turns out they are distant cousins.
The photo shows eight smiling people wearing navy pro-Trump shirts underneath a “Trump 2024 — Take America Back” sign.
The photo was first posted on X by Charles Herbster, a former candidate for governor in Nebraska who had Trump’s endorsement in the 2022 campaign. Herbster’s spokesperson, Rod Edwards, said the people in the photo are cousins to the Minnesota governor, who is now Kamala Harris’ running mate.
“The family in the picture are the descendants of Francis Walz, who was brother to Tim Walz’s grandfather,” Edwards said. “They’re all Walzes and spouses.”
The descendants of Francis Walz confirmed their relationship to Tim Walz in a text message to The Associated Press.
Walz’s sister, Sandy Dietrich, of Alliance, Nebraska, said she suspected it might be people from that branch of the family. Dietrich and Walz’s father, James Walz, died of lung cancer in 1984 when the future congressman and Minnesota governor was just a teenager. His father had been the school superintendent in Valentine, Nebraska.
“We weren’t close with them. We didn’t know them,” she said.
The Associated Press and NewsNation’s Rich McHugh contributed to this report.
