The Associated Press confirmed the eight people visible in the picture are some of Walz's distant cousins.
A rumor circulating online in early September 2024 claimed a photo showed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's family members wearing T-shirts reading, "Nebraska Walz's for Trump."
Walz, a Democrat, is U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate against former President Donald Trump, a Republican, in the 2024 presidential election
X users, including Matt Wolking (@MattWolking), posted (archived) the picture. Wolking's post, which read, "Tim Walz's family members in Nebraska are voting for Trump," had received nearly 16 million views.
Another rumor claimed someone manipulated the image with an artificial-intelligence tool, which would mean it was circulating under false pretenses. For example, one post on X showed yellow circles and arrows on the picture that pointed to purported discrepancies in the number of fingers on some of the people's hands. That user posted (archived), "Thanks to Walz's for Trump we know this is not AI at all. It's just the Walz family is genetically predisposed to having four fingers."
While some users also questioned the apostrophe appearing on the T-shirts, others, including for example conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec (archived) and conservative commentator Benny Johnson (archived), claimed the photo showed Walz's "entire family."
In truth, The Associated Press reported the photo was genuine and that the eight people visible in the picture are all distant cousins of Walz. In other words, Posobiec and Johnson posted misinformation.
The AP's reporting cited Rod Edwards, a spokesperson for former Trump-endorsed Nebraska gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster. Herbster appeared to post the photo in the early-morning hours of Sept. 4, captioning it with, "Tim Walz's family back in Nebraska wants you to know something… @realDonaldTrump @JDVance #SaveAmerica."
The high-quality nature of the original image upload helped to clarify that the claims about AI and people having "four fingers" were simply due to some fingers being obscured by others.
Edwards told the AP, "The family in the picture are the descendants of Francis Walz, who was brother to Tim Walz's grandfather." He added, They're all Walzes and spouses."
The descendants of Francis Walz confirmed their relationship to Tim Walz in a text message to The Associated Press.
"Shortly after Governor Tim Walz was named the Democrat Party Vice Presidential nominee, our family had a get-together. We had t-shirts made to show support for President Trump and J.D. Vance and took a group picture. That photo was shared with friends, and when we were asked for permission to post the picture, we agreed," the written statement said.
"The picture is real. The shirts are real. We are the Nebraska Walz family and we are related to Gov. Tim Walz, our grandfathers were brothers. The message on the shirts speaks for itself, "Nebraska Walz's for Trump."
We reached out to Edwards to ask about the photo and will update this story if we receive further details.
For further reading, we previously reported the true story of Tim and Gwen Walz gifting a car to a next-door neighbor.