Walz's distant MAGA cousins spark conversation about family dynamics during election

MINNEAPOLIS — If Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz wasn’t already relatable, he sure is now. Like so many Americans across the country, he disagrees with his family about politics.

After a weekend of scathing comments from an estranged brother, the Democratic vice presidential candidate is facing even more relative-related putdowns, including second cousins wearing customized pro- Donald Trump shirts.

The public family feud kicked off on Tuesday when a photo of eight people wearing “Nebraska Walz’s for Trump” shirts circulated on social media and, predictably, went viral.

USA TODAY confirmed the photo of Walz’s family members was originally posted on X, formerly Twitter, by Charles W. Herbster, a Nebraska cattle rancher and former Republican gubernatorial candidate in the state. Rod Edwards, a representative for Herbster, confirmed the picture was shared by the descendants of Joseph Francis Walz, the brother of Walz’s grandfather.

Political rifts in families of presidential candidates like Walz's are common in today's politics, but they're not exclusive to the twenty-first century. One of the most well-known American political dynasties, the Roosevelts, had its own series of political disagreements, according to Tweed Roosevelt, great-grandson of Theodore Roosevelt and professor at Long Island University.

“People somehow think that presidential families are different. They aren’t. They’re just like every other family,” Roosevelt told USA TODAY.

Like the Roosevelts, Kennedys and Trumps, Walz's family is the most recent to oppose their relative's candidacy, including the Minnesota governor's older brother, Jeff , who posted a Labor Day weekend post on Facebook to discuss their estranged relationship.

The two haven’t spoken in eight years, according to Jeff, and he is “100% opposed to (Walz’s) ideology,” he said in a post.

More: Walz subpoenaed by House for COVID fraud oversight failure

He later said Walz wasn’t fit for the job, and he was considering endorsing Trump at the time of the posting.

“I’m torn between that and just keeping my family out of it. The stories I could tell. Not the type of character you want making decisions about your future,” he said to a commentator on his original post.

On Tuesday, he spoke to News Nation and said he regretted getting involved in politics online.

“It was a post that I made because I was getting a lot of feedback from my friends, old acquaintances, thinking that I was feeling the same way that my brother did on the issues, and I was trying to clarify that just to friends,” he said.

More: 'He seems real to me': Tim Walz leads JD Vance on favorability in exclusive poll

Tim Walz’s mother and family matriarch, Darlene, 89, told the Daily Beast at her home in Butte, Nebraska, that she wants “to keep the peace with all of them.”

In the interview, she confirmed the brothers are estranged and that the people depicted in the photo are “mostly second cousins.”

Despite Walz’s connection, or lack thereof, to his public familial foes, Republicans quickly resorted to using it as an attack.

Trump took to Truth Social, where he posted a photo of the “Nebraska Walz’s for Trump” photo, thanking Jeff for his endorsement and saying he hopes to meet him. Jeff does not appear to be in this photo, nor has he offered his public endorsement of Trump.

Family feuding? You’re not alone

In an interview with the Daily Caller, Donald Trump Jr. said he hopes dissent for Walz gets the spotlight just like Mary L. Trump, the former president’s niece and outspoken critic.

“I hope the media gives them as much attention as they gave Trump family members that didn’t like my father or were willing to lie about him or whatever it may be. That won’t actually happen. But if by the media’s own rules, we should take everything that they say into great consideration,” he said.

More: Mary Trump, niece and critic of Donald Trump, has debate advice for Kamala Harris

Mary Trump wrote a 2020 tell-all unauthorized biography of her uncle, published in 2020 and a key source for the New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into Trump’s finances.

Mary’s brother, Frederick C. Trump III broke his silence on his opinions of Trump in a recently released book, accusing him of using racial slurs and saying people with disabilities “should just die.”

And then there’s the Democratic Kennedy dynasty. In April, several members of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s family came forward to endorse President Biden and denounce the now-independent presidential candidate.

More: RFK Jr.'s exit shakes up 2024 race. But how much does his endorsement actually help Trump?

During a Philadelphia campaign event in April , the Kennedy clan joined Biden on stage, expressing their fear of a second Trump presidency and the need for unity behind the Democratic ticket.

“We can say today, with no less urgency, that our rights and freedoms are once again in peril,” Kennedy’s sister Kerry said in her remarks. “That is why we all need to come together in a campaign that should unite not only Democrats but all Americans, including Republicans and independents, who believe in what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature.”

Kennedy’s relatives have been outspoken against his famously controversial conspiracy theories, including anti-vaccination rhetoric. In a statement after he announced his candidacy in October, Kerry and Kennedy’s three other siblings expressed their opposition.

“Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment,” the siblings wrote. “We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country.”

Roosevelt told USA TODAY he’s not surprised by Walz’s family members backing Trump, noting his own family’s history of tiffs.

“The idea that Walz’s family has to be in lockstep with him, that’s just not the way,” he said. “I’m sure you can find plenty of other examples of presidential families where they’re on both sides.”

Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt was also the niece of former President Theodore Roosevelt, but that didn’t stop her from campaigning against his son and her first cousin, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., in the 1924 New York Gubernatorial election. Eleanor drove around with a teapot puffing steam, alluding to Theodore Roosevelt Jr.’s involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal.

“People seem to think, in my case, that in our family, all we did was talk about (Theodore Roosevelt). We never talked about (him),” he said. “They talked about the same thing everybody else talks about - ‘Is Aunt Mabel ever going to get married?’”

— Sam Woodward is the Minnesota elections reporting fellow for USA TODAY focusing on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s candidacy. You can reach her at swoodward@gannett.com , on X @woodyreports, and on Threads @samjowoody .

Maya Marchel Hoff is the Nebraska elections reporting fellow for USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Walz's distant MAGA cousins spark conversation about family dynamics during election