That photo of people wearing 'Nebraska Walz's for Trump' shirts? They're distant cousins

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A sister of Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz says she doesn’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 eventually reposted by former President Donald Trump, who wrote on his Truth Social platform: “It is a Great Honor to have your Endorsement. I look forward to meeting you soon!”

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.

“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 and took a group picture. That photo was shared with friends, and when we were asked for permission to post the picture, we agreed,” the written statement said.

"The picture is real. The shirts are real. We are the Nebraska Walz family and we are related to Gov. Tim Walz, our grandfathers were brothers. The message on the shirts speaks for itself, “Nebraska Walzs for Trump.”

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.

Dietrich declined to comment on their distant cousins' opposition to her brother and referred to herself and her family as “Democrats for Tim.”

“I know who I’m voting for. That’s all I can control," she said.

But Tim Walz’s other surviving sibling is not behind his candidacy.

In recent days, the New York Post has reported on Facebook comments from the governor's older brother, Jeff Walz of Freeport, Florida, in which he said of his younger sibling: “The stories I could tell. Not the type of character you want making decisions about your future.” The 67-year-old also wrote that he was “100% opposed to all his ideology” and had thought about endorsing Trump, the Post reported.

In comments published Wednesday by NewsNation, Jeff Walz said that he was still irked he learned on the radio that his brother would be Harris’ running mate, but that he didn’t intend to influence the political debate and doesn’t want to be involved with anybody’s campaign.

Jeff Walz told NewsNation that he and the 60-year-old governor have not spoken since the funeral of their younger brother, Craig Walz, in 2016, aside from a brief phone call last month through their mother. He told NewsNation that what he was referring to in his post by “stories” were from their childhood.

“Nobody wanted to sit with him, because he had car sickness and would always throw up on us, that sort of thing,” Jeff Walz said. “There’s really nothing else hidden behind there. People are assuming something else. There’s other stories like that, but I think that probably gives you the gist of it.”

He also told NewsNation that he would make no further statements on the subject. He did not immediately return messages left Wednesday by the AP.

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Associated Press writers Randy Herschaft and Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.