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stated on September 4, 2024 in an Instagram post:

“The entire family of Kamala Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz—they are all supporting Donald Trump.”

By Ciara O'Rourke September 6, 2024

No, Tim Walz’s ‘entire family’ isn’t supporting the Trump-Vance ticket

If Your Time is short

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s brother has criticized his ideology, and his second cousins were photographed wearing Trump shirts. But other Walz family members, including his sister, wife and children, are backing Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

See the sources for this fact-check

They say blood is thicker than water, but maybe not during a presidential year.

An image started circulating on social media Sept. 4 that showed eight people standing in front of a banner supporting former President Donald Trump. They all wore shirts that said "Nebraska Walz’s for Trump."

And so began claims that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, was a black sheep with no relatives to back him.

"The entire family of Kamala Harris’ running mate Tim Walz — they are all supporting Donald Trump," actor Steve Hanks said in a Sept. 4 Instagram post that shared the image.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

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The Harris campaign didn’t respond to PolitiFact’s questions about the photo. Neither did Charles Herbster, a former Nebraska governor candidate who first posted the photo on X.

Herbster, however, didn’t claim Walz’s entire family supported Trump.

"Tim Walz’s family back in Nebraska wants you to know something … " he said, sharing the image.

Of course, anyone who watched the Democratic National Convention would know that Walz’s entire family doesn’t support Trump.

Walz’s wife, daughter and son appeared emotional on camera during the event and later joined him on stage after he accepted the nomination.

Threads posts

stated on October 9, 2024 in a Threads post

Video shows “people attempting to flee Florida & Hurricane Milton.”

Walz has two surviving siblings. His brother, Jeff Walz, recently drew media attention after posting about his brother on Facebook, saying they hadn’t spoken in eight years and that he was "100% opposed to all his ideology."

His sister, Sandy Dietrich, meanwhile, told The Associated Press that she and her family were "Democrats for Tim."

A spokesperson for Herbster also told the AP that the people in the photo wearing Trump shirts "are descendants of Francis Walz, who was brother to Tim Walz’s grandfather."

That side of the family confirmed to the AP that their "grandfathers were brothers."

"We weren’t close with them," Dietrich said. "We didn’t know them."

We rate claims that Walz’s "entire family" is supporting Trump False.