Claim:
Democratic vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has bipolar disorder.
Rating:
Unfounded ( About this rating? )
In October 2024, as the U.S. presidential election approached, a rumor spread alleging that Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has bipolar disorder. Without providing evidence to substantiate the assertion, one post on X presented the alleged mental health condition as breaking news ( archived ):
As of this writing, that post has received 597,100 views and 17,000 likes. The rumor also appeared in other posts on X , on Facebook , as well as on a TexAgs forum ( archived ), a website about Texas A & M football.
It's unclear where the rumor originated, or who started it. The earliest instances of the claim we found were posted on X on Oct. 2, 2024 . (We did a search for X posts with the words "Walz" and "bipolar" between Sept. 1, 2024, and Oct. 1, 2024, and nothing appeared.) One account was particularly active in spreading the rumor and replied to multiple X posts with the line: "October Surprise: Tim Walz is Bipolar #BipolarWalz #LowIQKamala ."
People seemed to believe the claim was plausible. One post on X asked for a source to support the claim, adding that it would " explain a lot " if it were true ( archived ). On Oct. 11, several Snopes readers searched our site for information to prove or disprove the claim.
However, there was no evidence to corroborate the claim that Walz has bipolar disorder — a mental illness that causes a person to swing between manic elation and deep depression.
Federal law prevents the disclosure of people's medical records without their permission, including politicians. So in order to confirm or debunk the rumor, Walz would need to publicly address it. That had not happened.
We reached out to his campaign to ask if there was any truth to the rumor, and we did not receive a response. We will update this report if, or when, that changes.
Among elected officials who have talked openly about their mental health are Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island.
Furthermore, there was no news coverage about Walz's alleged mental illness. Hypothetically speaking, if there was any indication that Walz has bipolar disorder, journalists from reputable news outlets would seek to find more information, as they do when credible claims about other politicians' health surface.
Based on our search of news stories, the only reports linking Walz to mental illness are about his son's nonverbal learning disability , attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety.
Walz has been open about his struggles before. For example, he told The Minnesota Star Tribune in 2018 he stopped drinking alcohol 27 years prior after he was caught speeding while drunk .
It is a common political tactic to spread rumors about the mental health of opponents, regardless of the allegations' legitimacy. In the final stretch of the 2024 presidential race, claims about former President Donald Trump's cognitive abilities, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris' , circulated widely online.
Sources:
Bennett, Brian. 'What to Know About Tim Walz' 1995 Drunk Driving Charge'. TIME, 6 Aug. 2024, https://time.com/7008431/tim-walz-dui-drunk-driving/ .
Coolican, J. Patrick. Tim Walz's Campaign for Minnesota Governor Aims to Bridge the Great Divide. 14 Oct. 2018, https://www.startribune.com/tim-walz-s-campaign-for-minnesota-governor-aims-to-bridge-the-great-divide/495297961 .
DSM-5_TR Update. American Psychiatric Association, Sept. 2022, https://www.psychiatry.org/getmedia/304e9a98-ca5c-4e04-97d7-30b4756705eb/APA-DSM5TR-Update-September-2022.pdf .
'Sudden Fame for Tim Walz's Son Focuses Attention on Challenges of People with Learning Disabilities'. WHYY, https://whyy.org/articles/dnc-tim-walz-family-learning-disabilities/ . Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.
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