Meet the family of Tim Walz, Kamala Harris' VP pick

Before Walz ran for Congress, where he served from 2007 to 2019, he was a high-school geography teacher and football coach at Mankato West High School from 1996 to 2006. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that he also served as the faculty advisor for his school's Gay-Straight Alliance.

Walz also served in the National Guard for 24 years. He enlisted in 1981 and retired as a master sergeant in 2005.

Walz's brother Craig died in 2016 when, during a storm, a tree fell where he was camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area at Duncan Lake in Minnesota, as reported by WCCO and KARE11. Craig's son, Jacob, who was then 8 years old, was severely injured but recovered.

Craig, like Walz's two other siblings, Jeff and Sandy, was a teacher.

"My mom raised four teachers, and three out of four of us married teachers. Working in the family business for 20+ years, I learned just how much hard work goes into the job," Tim Walz wrote on Facebook in May.

After Walz was announced as the VP nominee, his older brother Jeff came out against him on Facebook, writing that he was "100% opposed" to his brother's political views and that he hasn't spoken to him in eight years, per CNN.

While later speaking with NewsNation, Jeff clarified that he thought Facebook wasn't the appropriate place to air his grievances, but doubled down on his disagreements with his brother: "I used Facebook, which wasn't the right platform to do that. But I will say, I don't agree with his policies."

After graduating from Chadron State College, Walz worked in China for a year with WorldTeach, a nonprofit organization that places volunteers around the world to teach English and other subjects.

Upon his return, he began teaching in Nebraska, his home state, where he met Gwen.

According to her official bio, Gwen is a "lifelong Minnesotan." She attended Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter and Minnesota State University in Mankato before she began teaching English in Nebraska, where she met her future husband.

Soon after they met, the two started hosting summer trips for students to travel to China, a project that continued until 2003.

In addition to education, Gwen is also passionate about prison reform and education inside prisons.

Walz frequently posts on social media about his kids, and now, so does his wife.

Gwen joined Instagram the same day her husband was announced as Harris' running mate. Since then, she's posted multiple photos of her husband, their kids, and the campaign trail.

Walz gave them a special shout-out during his acceptance speech at the DNC, calling them his "entire world."

The Walz family also has a rescue dog, Scout, and a rescue cat, Honey.

In a March 2024 interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Walz publicly shared his journey with fertility treatments after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos were considered people, which threatened access to fertility treatments in the state.

He said they went through seven years of fertility treatments at the Mayo Clinic before Gwen told her husband she was pregnant with their daughter, Hope.

"Gwen and I have two beautiful children because of reproductive healthcare like IVF. This issue is deeply personal to our family and so many others," he wrote on Facebook in February.

In August, his wife clarified that they did not go through IVF but used a different process, intrauterine insemination, or IUI.

"Like so many who have experienced these challenges, we kept it largely to ourselves at the time – not even sharing the details with our wonderful and close family," Gwen Walz said in a statement.

Tim Walz was criticized for using misleading language, including by his VP opponent JD Vance. A campaign spokesperson said Walz had used "IVF" to describe their experience because he "talks how normal people talk. He was using commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatments."

"It's not by chance that we named our daughter Hope," Walz told the Star Tribune, referencing the yearslong fertility struggles he and his wife went through.

In September 2023, Walz posted on Instagram to celebrate National Daughter's Day. "I have the best daughter a dad could possibly ask for. Happy National Daughter's Day," he wrote.

Hope attended the University of Minnesota. She was at the DNC in Chicago to support her father, alongside her mother and brother.

Walz also posts about his son, who turns 18 in October. Last October, he posted in celebration of Gus passing his road test to get his driver's license.

"My son Gus just passed his (what do you call it? A drivers license exam?). Proud dad moment," he wrote.

In August, Walz and his wife spoke to People about what they call Gus' "secret power": He has ADHD and an anxiety disorder, as well as a non-verbal learning disorder, they said.

"Like so many American families, it took us time to figure out how to make sure we did everything we could to make sure Gus would be set up for success as he was growing up," said the Walzes.

"It took time, but what became so immediately clear to us was that Gus' condition is not a setback — it's his secret power," they continued.

Gus stole the show at the DNC on Wednesday night. Clips of him jumping up to applaud during his dad's speech and proudly yelling, "That's my dad," went viral.