Tim Walz's Wife May Have "Walzed" Into His Life at a Young Age — What Does She Do Now?
Tim Walz was a teacher, a congressman, a governor, and he could be a vice president. But first, he was a husband.
Updated Aug. 6 2024, 9:25 a.m. ET
The names on Kamala Harris’s shortlist for running mate included Josh Shapiro, Andy Beshear, and Tim Walz, among others, though it appears Tim has succeeded over all the others. As Tim rises in popularity, partly due to his calling Republicans “weird people,” which many young people have found hilarious as it infuriates the Republican party, voters want to know more about Tim Walz’s wife.
It’s probably unsurprising that Tim Walz and his wife have a bit of a fairytale love story. They met when they were young, fell in love, and had two children, Hope and Gus — the perfect nuclear family. So who is Tim Walz’s wife and what could she bring to the table as a Second Lady?
Tim Walz met his wife, Gwen, when they were both starting out as teachers.
Tim never intended to become a politician — he didn’t go to law school and he never had a lifelong dream of becoming president. His goal was always just to make the world a better place, which is why he and Gwen (née Whipple), first fell in love. Both studied and went into the field of education — Tim grew up in Nebraska and graduated from Chadron State College with a degree in social science in 1989 before going abroad to China to teach English.
Gwen, on the other hand, grew up in Minnesota, where she received degrees from both Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter and Minnesota State University, Mankato. Shortly after, she began teaching English in western Nebraska (near Tim’s hometown) and the two of them met. They created a summer trip to China for their students, which they continued to do every year until 2003.
In 1994, Tim and Gwen married and raised their two children in Mankato before moving to Saint Paul almost 20 years later. Despite Tim’s lack of political aspiration at first, Gwen has always been supportive of his career and even has ideas of her own on how to make the public education system better.
Gwen wasn’t just a teacher — she taught in private, public, and migrant schools. She went on to become an administrator and coordinator for Mankato Area Public Schools. And now, she has aspirations of doing even more. Gwen’s official bio explains, “Gwen knows that a strong public education system, encompassing birth through senior citizens, is critical to empowering every Minnesotan to succeed.
“Gwen is a passionate advocate for exemplary education in America’s prisons as well. She has worked across the country to bring educational opportunities to incarcerated women and men, or as Gwen notes: students … As part of the liberal arts in prison curriculum, Gwen and her congressional spouse mentee, Randy Florke, developed a Conversation aligning Randy's life story with the equality movement.
"This Conversation has been shared by Randy and Gwen in prison, at universities, West Point Academy, the American Constitution Society, and numerous other public and private institutions in support of equality and diversity education.”
With Kamala having selected Gwen's husband as her running mate in the 2024 presidential election, per AP News, we’re excited to see some public education and prison reform from someone with experience and knowledge in the field who truly cares about helping their fellow citizens succeed.
