Gwen Walz, 58, rose to national prominence when Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris selected Gwen’s husband, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, to become her running mate for the 2024 election. Here’s what you need to know about Gwen Walz who found her vocation as an educator and was interested in politics long before she became a political spouse.
The Minnesota native followed her parents into education
Born Gwen Whipple in Glencoe, Minnesota, on June 15, 1966, Gwen grew up in Ivanhoe, a city in the southwestern part of the state, with three younger sisters. Her parents raised her in the Lutheran faith.
Her mother, Linn, and father, Val, were both teachers and small business owners. Gwen followed in their footsteps after studying at Minnesota’s Gustavus Adolphus College and Minnesota State University.
Gwen and Tim Walz were teaching at the same school when they met
While teaching English in Alliance, Nebraska, Gwen met Tim Walz, a geography teacher at her school. On their first date, they went to see Falling Down (1993) and ate at a Hardee’s. They didn’t kiss that night but sharing a big classroom gave Gwen the opportunity to witness Tim’s rapport with students, and she was soon won over.
The couple married on June 4, 1994, after which Gwen adopted Tim’s last name. Their honeymoon consisted of a student trip to China, though Gwen didn’t get to share a room with her new husband due to an uneven group number.
Gwen missed living in Minnesota, so the couple moved there in 1996. They both worked at Mankato West High School, with Gwen teaching English and Tim social studies. She also coached cheer and served as faculty adviser for the school paper. Students liked her, though the pair were sometimes referred to as “the fun Walz and the other Walz” with Tim considered to be the “fun” one.
From 2004 to 2018, Gwen worked for the Mankato school district as a coordinator. She left the role when her husband was elected governor of Minnesota.
Gwen and Tim have two children
Gwen became a mother in January 2001 when their daughter, Hope, was born. A little more than five years later, in October 2006, she and Tim welcomed their son, Gus.
After a February 2024 Alabama Supreme Court ruling paused in vitro fertilization in the state, Tim shared he and Gwen had undergone seven years of fertility treatments “like IVF” to become parents. In August 2024, Gwen clarified that Hope was conceived via intrauterine insemination not IVF. “Our fertility journey was an incredibly personal and difficult experience,” she told Glamour, also saying, “Knowing that pain, I cannot fathom the cruelty of politicians who want to take away the freedom for couples to access the care they need.”
Gwen’s interest in politics predates Tim’s run for office
At a 2002 rally, Gwen thanked former Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale for selecting a woman, Geraldine Ferraro, as his running mate in the 1984 election. “You had such an incredible influence on me, and women of my age, by your courageous and visionary decision,” Gwen told Mondale.
Gwen and Tim both opposed the Iraq War, and that opposition spurred her husband’s successful run for Congress in 2006. During his campaign, Gwen once stepped in to give a speech at a fundraiser when Tim was silenced by laryngitis.
Gwen has been uniquely involved as Minnesota’s First Lady
After Tim became governor of Minnesota in 2019, Gwen was the first governor’s spouse to set up an office in the state Capitol. She has successfully pushed for gun control, the restoration of voting rights to former prisoners, and more educational opportunities for incarcerated people.
Her interest in education for people in prison dates back to 2012 when a fellow congressional spouse told her about the Bard Prison Initiative. The program began by helping incarcerated people in New York access college classes and obtain degrees from Bard College. Gwen helped the initiative expand to other states and worked with a prison debate team that went on to out-perform Harvard.
Wanting to establish a similar program in Minnesota, in 2019, Gwen arranged a screening of clips from a PBS documentary about the Bard Prison Initiative. However, at the event she was ill-prepared for questions about the role race plays in criminal justice outcomes. The local PBS station agreed to delete its footage of the panel discussion following a request from the governor’s office; this request was later deemed an “overreaction.”
She’s still connected to education
The longtime teacher accepted the post of special assistant to the president at Augsburg University early in her husband’s gubernatorial term. There, she has taught classes and overseen training and other projects. The school has a familial connection, as Gwen’s mother, Linn, studied there after becoming the first person in her family to graduate high school.
Gwen has signed up to teach a class at Augsburg in the spring of 2025, so she might not immediately move to Washington D.C. if the Harris-Walz ticket prevails.
Gwen’s support on the 2024 campaign trail includes homemade cookies
Gwen set up new social media accounts on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram after her husband was selected as Harris’ running mate. Gwen introduced Tim at the Democratic National Convention in August 2024 and has been an active presence on the campaign trail. At events, she sometimes brings along homemade gingersnaps, a practice carried over from political life in Minnesota.
Sara Kettler is a Connecticut-based freelance writer who has written for Biography.com, History, and the A&E True Crime blog. She’s a member of the Writers Guild of America and also pens mystery novels. Outside of writing, she likes dogs, Broadway shows, and studying foreign languages.
