Tim Walz, 41st Governor of Minnesota

Timothy James Walz (/ˈwɔːlz/; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician, former schoolteacher, and retired U.S. Army non-commissioned officer who has served as the 41st governor of Minnesota since 2019 and is the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019, and was the ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee from 2017 to 2019.

Walz was born in West Point, Nebraska. After high school, he joined the Army National Guard and worked in manufacturing. He later graduated from Chadron State College in Nebraska before moving to Minnesota in 1996. Before running for Congress, he was a high school social studies teacher and football coach. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Minnesota's 1st congressional district in 2006, defeating six-term Republican incumbent Gil Gutknecht.

Walz was reelected to the House five times before being elected governor of Minnesota in 2018. He was reelected in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Scott Jensen. During his second gubernatorial term, Walz pushed for and signed a wide range of legislation, including tax modifications, free school meals, bolstering state infrastructure, gun background checks, codifying abortion rights, and free college tuition for low-income families.

On August 6, 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris announced Walz as her running mate in the 2024 United States presidential election.

Family life

Walz was born on April 6, 1964, in West Point, Nebraska, to Darlene Rose Reiman, a homemaker, and James F. Walz, a teacher, school superintendent, and U.S. Army veteran who served in the Korean War. He is of German, Swedish, Luxembourgish, and Irish descent; his great-great-grandfather Sebastian Walz emigrated from Kuppenheim, Germany to the United States in 1867, and one of his grandmothers was Swedish American. Walz was raised Catholic. Walz and his three siblings grew up in Valentine, Nebraska, a rural community near Nebraska's northern border.

Walz and his wife, Gwen (born 1966), married on June 4, 1994. The couple underwent fertility treatment at the Mayo Clinic for seven years before their children were born in 2001 and 2006. They lived in Mankato, Minnesota, for nearly 20 years before moving to Saint Paul with their two children upon Walz's election as governor. Raised Catholic, Walz left the Church when he married his wife and is now a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Military service

With his father's encouragement, Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard when he turned 17. His father had served in the Korean War and paid for his education degree with the G.I. Bill, and wanted his son to have the same opportunity. Walz served in the National Guard for 24 years after enlisting in 1981, simultaneous with his career in education. He retired with the rank of master sergeant in 2005. Though he was serving as a command sergeant major at the time of his retirement, Walz's final military rank for retirement benefit purposes is master sergeant, as he had not completed the required academic coursework to remain a command sergeant major before his retirement.

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Per the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project, Walz has the following service history:

Cold War

• Branch of Service: Army
• Service Unit/Ship: 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery; Minnesota Army National Guard
• Location of Service: Fort Benning, Georgia; New Ulm, Minnesota
• Highest Rank: Command Sergeant Major
• Dates of Service: 1981-2005
• Entrance into Service: Enlisted
• Military Status: veteran

Peacekeeping forces--Bosnia and Hercegovina

• Branch of Service: Army
• Entrance into Service: Enlisted
• Military Status: veteran
• War on Terrorism, 2001-2009
• Branch of Service: Army
• Service Unit/Ship: European Security Force
• Location of Service: Vicenza, Italy
• Dates of Service: 2003
• Entrance into Service: Enlisted
• Military Status: veteran

War on Terrorism, 2001-2009

• Branch of Service: Army
• Service Unit/Ship: European Security Force
• Location of Service: Vicenza, Italy
• Dates of Service: 2003
• Entrance into Service: Enlisted
• Military Status: veteran

Sources

• Ancestry.com. Minnesota, U.S., Marriage Index, 1958-2001 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. < link > Accessed 9 August 2024.
  • Name: Timothy J Walz; Gender: Male; Birth Date: abt 1964; Age: 30; Spouse: Gwen L Whipple; Marriage Date: 4 June 1994; Marriage State: Minnesota; Marriage County: Lincoln.
• Ancestry.com. Nebraska, U.S., Birth Ledgers, 1904-1911, Birth Index, 1912-1994 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2021. < link > Accessed 8 August 2024.
  • Name: Timothy James Walz; Gender: Male; Birth Date: 6 Apr 1964; Birth Place: Cuming, Nebraska, USA; Parent 1 Name: James Walz; Certificate Number: 07756; Birth Certificate Type: Normal.
• Kranish, Michael. "Tim Walz's upbringing in rural Nebraska seemed idyllic. Then came tragedy." The Washington Post, published 24 August 2024. < link > Accessed 25 August 2024.
• "Tim Walz." Wikipedia, revision of 25 August 2024. < link > Accessed 8 August 2024.
• "Timothy James Walz Collection." Veterans History Project. Library of Congress. < link > Accessed 25 August 2024.