Tim Walz’s Family Guide: Meet the Family of Kamala Harris’ Running Mate

To the world, Tim Walz has many titles.

He's a social studies teacher, high school football coach, governor of Minnesota and Democratic vice presidential nominee alongside presidential candidate and current VP Kamala Harris. (They're up against former president Donald Trump and his running mate Ohio Senator JD Vance in the 2024 presidential election Nov. 5.)

But to Walz's daughter Hope, 23, and son Gus, 18, he’s Dad.

“Of all the things he’s done,” his wife, first lady of Minnesota Gwen Walz, said in a video shared to Instagram in August, “Tim loves being a dad.”

However, the couple’s road to parenthood wasn’t easy.

“If you’ve never experienced the hell that is infertility, I guarantee you you know somebody who has,” Walz said of their fertility journey during his speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in August. “And I can remember praying each night for a phone call. The pit in your stomach when the phone had rang and the absolute agony when we heard the treatments hadn’t worked. It took Gwen and I years, but we had access to fertility treatments. And when our daughter was born, we named her Hope.”

“Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world,” he continued, “and I love you.”

Naturally, Walz brought his family members into his political world, with his wife and children joining him on the campaign trail.

Even before the 2024 election, Walz’s loved ones were by his side as he campaigned for roles in congress and as Minnesota’s governor.

In fact, Walz promised to get Gus a puppy if he was elected governor—staying true to his word and rescuing dog Scout in 2019, the pup joining family cat Afton.

Now election day is here once again, and Americans are waiting to see who will be the next president and vice president. As the results come in, you can read on to learn more about Walz’s family and read about Harris', Trump's and Vance’s families here, here and here.

Born in Nebraska in 1929, James F. Walz was the son of a butcher. He served in the Korean War and worked as a teacher, later taking on the role of superintendent.

James married wife Darlene Walz, and they raised their four children—Tim Walz, Jeff Walz, Craig Walz and Sandy Dietrich—in Butte, Neb.

James died in 1984 after battling lung cancer.

"The values of hard work, family, and education were important to my grandfather and father," Walz tweeted on Father's Day in 2022. "And although I lost my father when I was still in my teens, I’m forever grateful for the values that my father and grandfather instilled in me and are practiced in the Walz family."

Walz has opened up about how life changed for him, his mom Darlene and his siblings after their father's death.

"After he died—my mom was a stay-at-home mom—she became our rock and now she had to go out and get work because the medical bills broke her," the Minnesota governor recalled in an August 2024 conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris, sharing how his mom turned to "Social Security and Social Security survivor benefits. We're fine pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We had no boots. That's the boots. We paid it back."

While Darlene lives a private life, Walz has offered insight into how she's influenced him. As the Democratic VP nominee wrote in a 2020 Mother's Day tribute, "My mother taught me what it means to serve others."

Darlene recently made headlines when she commented on her family's different political views (According to NBC News, Walz's brother Jeff wrote on Facebook he hasn't "spoken to him in eight years" and is "100% opposed to all his ideology.")

“I think the best thing maybe, for me," she told the Daily Beast in September, "is to just stay out of it."

Speaking of siblings, Jeff and Sandy graduated from Nebraska's Chadron State College along with Walz and live in Florida and Nebraska, respectively, per the school's website. Their brother Craig died in 2016 after a storm caused a tree to fall on his campsite in Minnesota, the Cook County Sheriff's Office told local NBC affiliate KARE. Walz has said they all entered the teaching profession.

Gwen Walz is the 39th first lady of Minnesota.

Born and raised in the state, Gwen attended Gustavus Adolphus College as well as Minnesota State University. According to her bio, she launched her career as an English teacher in Nebraska, where she met Walz. In fact, Gwen has said they even shared a classroom with a divider down the middle.

Although, it appears one of her siblings played matchmaker. As Walz wrote in a Facebook tribute on Gwen's birthday in 2018, "I’m so lucky your sister convinced you to go out with me."

The couple wed in 2004. They then welcomed daughter Hope in January 2001 followed by son Gus in October 2006, and Gwen has spoken about her journey with intrauterine insemination.

“Like millions of families across the country,” she told Glamour in August 2024, “for years, Tim and I tried to start a family through fertility treatments.”

Gwen has supported Walz throughout his political career, including on the campaign trail and on the stage at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

“To my wife Gwen – Minnesota’s next First Lady - how can I ever thank you enough?” he tweeted back in 2018. “I’m grateful to you for keeping it all together for us and walking with me on this journey. I love you.”

Hope Walz is the oldest child of Walz and Gwen, and her name has deep significance following their fertility journey.

"We struggled to have kids, and fertility treatments made it possible," Gwen shared in an August 2024 video. "There is a reason our daughter is named Hope."

Over the years, Walz and Gwen have given glimpses into Hope's life—sharing photos and videos of her enjoying pasta dinners with her soccer teammates, attending college at the University of Minnesota and going on "the most extreme ride at the Minnesota State Fair" with her dad.

She also appeared alongside her father in a 2019 PSA on distracted driving and at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

"Hope, Gus and Gwen," Walz said on the stage, "you are my entire world and I love you."

Gus Walz is the governor’s youngest child with wife Gwen.

And just like with Hope, the parents have offered peeks into his day-to-day, including photos of him passing his driver's license test, going to school and celebrating holidays with his family.

Gus has also supported his dad throughout his political career. In fact, Walz promised to get Gus a puppy if he was elected governor of Minnesota—fulfilling that promise in 2019 with a dog named Scout (The family also has a pet cat named Afton.)

And at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Gus was brought to tears as he cheered on his father.

"I don’t know as a father I could’ve ever imagined that," Walz told CNN. "I’m grateful for so many reasons to be on this ticket, but that moment—to understand what was really important, to have my son feel a sense of pride in me that I was trying to do the right thing. You try and protect your kids. It brings notoriety and things, but it was just such a visceral emotional moment that I’m grateful I got to experience it, and I’m so proud of him."

He and his wife have also spoken about Gus being neurodivergent.

"When he was becoming a teenager, we learned that Gus has a non-verbal learning disorder in addition to an anxiety disorder and ADHD," they told People in August 2024, "conditions that millions of Americans also have."

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

This story was originally published Oct. 20, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. PST.

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