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Satirical Claim About Walz’s Net Worth Is Being Shared as Legitimate
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Satirical Claim About Walz’s Net Worth Is Being Shared as Legitimate

The original post is labeled as satire, but social media users are treating it as genuine.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign rally at Desert Diamond Arena on August 9, 2024 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

A satirical social media post claiming that Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is worth $138 million and that his daughter has accepted $82,000 in student debt forgiveness has been picked up and recirculated as genuine by other social media users. 

The original post comes from the account America – Love it or Leave It, a subsidiary of America’s Last Line of Defense and the page that includes the disclosure “Nothing on this page is real.” 

That hasn’t stopped others from sharing the claim as legitimate on various social media platforms.

This claim is false. A 2023 tax return cited by the Wall Street Journal showed that Walz and his wife had a total income of $299,000 in 2023, $135,000 of which came from retirement accounts and teacher pensions. Moreover, Walz owns no stocks or private equity and sold his only piece of real estate, his former home, for less than $315,000 prior to moving into the Minnesota governor’s mansion.

It is unclear if Walz’s 23-year old daughter—who graduated from Montana State University in 2023—was awarded any student debt relief, as those records are not made available to the public. 

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.

Peter Gattuso is a fact check reporter for The Dispatch, based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the company in 2024, he interned at The Dispatch, National Review, the Cato Institute, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. When Peter is not fact-checking, he is probably watching baseball, listening to music on vinyl records, or discussing the Jones Act.

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