WASHINGTON — Tim Walz’s personal finances are something of an anomaly in presidential politics: He has no investments. No bonds. No stock holdings. No real estate. And he does not currently own a home.
The limited financial portfolio of Walz, who Vice President Kamala Harris named Tuesday as her running-mate, speaks to the blue-collar pedigree that attracted Harris to the Minnesota governor and former six-term congressman.
Many presidents and vice presidents came from humble beginnings. Yet Walz’s modest means as a candidate are drawing financial comparisons to President Harry S Truman, the working-class running-mate of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, as perhaps the best comparison.
“In recent years, he stands out considerably. If you look at the folks who have been chosen as running-mates, they’ve been relatively financial secure,” said Mark Updegrove, a presidential historian and president and CEO of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation.
“He has a far more prosaic background than any of the other candidates I can think of, with the exception of Truman, in the last 75 years,” Updegrove said.
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Walz, 60, and his wife Gwen Walz reported earning $166,719 in 2022, according to a federal tax return that year, the couple’s most recent tax filing made public. Most of the income, $115,485, came from Walz’s salary as governor, while $51,234 was earned by Gwen Walz’s salary as an educator, which she lists as…
