Brother of Kamala Harris VP pick Tim Walz is ‘100 per cent opposed to his ideology’

“I’m 100 per cent opposed to all his ideology,” Jeff Walz declared on Friday evening about the Minnesota Governor and running mate of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

And he has so little faith in his kid brother, Jeff Walz is now considering publicly endorsing former President Donald Trump’s White House run, he told a Facebook poster who urged him to “get on stage with President Trump and endorse him”.

“I’ve thought long and hard about doing something like that! I’m torn between that and just keeping my family out of it,” the 67-year-old Floridian wrote in a response which notched 449 likes.

“The stories I could tell. Not the type of character you want making decisions about your future,” he added.

Besides Jeff, Tim Walz, 60, has a sister, Sandy Dietrich, 63, who lives in Nebraska, where the Walz clan grew up. Another brother, Craig Walz, 44, died when a tree fell on him during a storm which ripped through a Minnesota campsite in 2016.

Jeff and Tim Walz haven’t spoken in eight years, Jeff Walz wrote.

And the Governor — who has fudged details of his military career and who delayed calling the National Guard even as his state burned during the George Floyd riots — didn’t bother to let his older brother know that he was picked as Ms Harris’ running mate.

“My family wasn’t given any notice that he was selected,” Jeff Walz wrote.

Jeff Walz’s feelings about his younger brother came to light after conservative activist Laura Loomer discovered a Facebook post he wrote on March 30, 2023 — the day Mr Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury over hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels.

“We’ve just become a third-world banana republic,” he wrote in a post that has now gained 518 likes.

The registered Republican donated $US20 ($30) to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, Federal Election Commission records show. There were no recorded donations to his brother during Tim Walz’ years in the House of Representatives.

Jeff Walz told The Post on Saturday, “I am not doing interviews.”

Little has been reported about the married dad who lives on the Florida panhandle in Freeport with his wife Laurie.

Social media shows him sailfishing in Costa Rica in February. “It’s been a dream for many years. Most exciting fishing I’ve ever done!” he wrote.

Other posts show Mr Walz on the beach, and smiling and hugging two young children on various family outings, including one with Disney World’s “Tree of Life” in the background.

He and Laurie owned So Fine Music in Inverness, a musical instrument and equipment store from 2001 to 2010, according to public records. Mr Walz was also an assistant principal at a Citrus County middle school in the early 2000s.

Laurie Walz is Facebook friends with a number of relatives in the extended Walz family, including Jeff’s siblings Tim Walz and Sandy Dietrich, and several Dietrich family members.

She’s also connected on Facebook with Craig Walz’ widow Julie Slominski. An obituary for Craig Walz also lists Jeff and Laurie Walz among his surviving relatives.

Jeff Walz and Sandy Dietrich, along with Tim, are all graduates of Chadron State College in Nebraska.

An article in the Chadron Record from 1977 recognised Jeff Walz for being accepted into a national research program, and to graduate school at Iowa State University to study physics.

It’s unclear what caused the apparent rift between the brothers.

But they have something in common — brushes with the law. Tim Walz was arrested in 1995 for drunken driving after he was busted going more than 40mph (64km/h) over the speed limit, and his brother pleaded guilty in 2001 to misdemeanour retail theft and was sentenced to six months of probation, according to public records from Citrus Country, Florida. 

While he was an assistant principal at Crystal River Middle School, Jeff Walz allegedly stole a bicycle tube, handlebar grips and a three-way outlet adaptor totalling $US13 ($19) from an Inverness Walmart, according to the Tampa Bay Times and a letter of reprimand from Florida’s Education Practices Commission.

Jeff Walz, who was certified to teach mathematics and physics, was also ordered to do community service, attend a shoplifting course, pay $US260 ($384) in fines and not return to the store, according to the commission’s complaint.

Tim Walz, also a former educator, has made a name for himself as one of the most radical leftist leaders in the US. 

As governor of Minnesota he imposed some of the harshest Covid lockdowns in the country — which led to education levels plummeting under his watch.

Like Ms Harris, he has repeatedly pledged his commitment to equity — a bedrock of Marxist ideology. And he turned Minnesota into a “trans refugee” state signing legislation to protect gender-affirming care and to provide tampons in school bathrooms.

“Tim Walz’s own brother knows his socialist ideology is dangerous for America. Together with Kamala Harris, inflation will get higher, the illegal immigration crisis will get worse and our nation will look more like Venezuela,” said New York Republican Representative Nicole Malliotakis.

“Someone who puts tampons in boys’ bathrooms, lets their cities burn during defund police riots and taxes citizens saddled with debt to give illegal immigrants free tuition should not be in elected office, let alone vice president,” she added.

Jeff Walz is not the first family member to take issue with a prominent politician-relative.

Ms Harris is apparently estranged from her father, Donald. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s family has denounced his now-defunct presidential campaign.

Former President Barack Obama was famously dogged by his Kenyan half-brother Malik, while Mr Trump has faced a book-length condemnation from his niece Mary Trump, along with another tome by his nephew, Fred Trump.

“If the mainstream media has no problem amplifying the voices of Mary Trump and the family of RFK Jr. who speak out against Republicans, then the American people deserve to hear more from Tim Walz’ brother,” Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boeberttold The Post.

Reps for the Harris and Walz campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

This article originally appeared on NY Post and was reproduced with permission.