A new picture of Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz‘s (D-MN) family in Nebraska went viral on social media Wednesday, showing eight relatives wearing “Walz’s for Trump” T-shirts in support of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump.
Rod Edwards, the Walz family friend who helped disseminate the photograph, confirmed to the Washington Examiner that the photo was real. He said one of the female family members in the photo, who was a longtime friend in the Omaha area, showed him the photo and he asked if he could share it with others.
Edwards shared the photo with Charles Herbster, a cattle rancher and former 2022 Nebraska gubernatorial candidate, who posted it on X. The photo quickly caught fire with millions of views when several conservative social media influencers, including Ryan Fournier and Charlie Kirk, reposted the image.
The Walz family friend said everyone in the photo agreed to allow the photo to be released but wanted their names to remain private because they felt “overwhelmed” by the immediate attention.
https://twitter.com/CWHerbster/status/1831314351308845431
Many social media users were quick to dismiss the image as fake and even suggested that it was AI-generated.
The “Nebraska Walz Family” released a statement to the Washington Examiner on Wednesday night to confirm the photo.
“Shortly after Governor Tim Walz was named the Democrat Party Vice Presidential nominee, our family had a get-together. We had t-shirts made to show support for President Trump and J.D. Vance. We took a family photo, that was shared with friends. We also granted permission for the photo to be posted. The picture is real. The shirts are real,” the family said.
They added, “We are the Nebraska Walz family and we are related to Gov. Tim Walz, our grandfathers were brothers.”
Trump shared the photo on his social media platform, Truth Social, thanking the family for their support.
“In the last few days, [Gov. Tim] Walz’s brother and multiple other members of his extended family have come out publicly against him and for Trump. Is anyone in the leftwing media going to cover this?” Donald Trump Jr. said on X, formerly Twitter.
SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show host Megyn Kelly asked on X whether the photo would receive the same amount of media attention as when Trump’s distant family members and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s family criticized them on the campaign trail.
“Now do we think this will get the same coverage Mary Trump or Kerry Kennedy has received?” Kelly inquired on Wednesday.
Walz’s brother Jeff Walz, who lives in Florida, has openly shared his support for Trump.
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“I’m 100% opposed to all his ideology,” he wrote last week in a Facebook post, opposing the candidacy of the Harris-Walz ticket.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Harris-Walz and Trump-Vance campaigns for a response.
