How Tim Walz’s personal finances compare with JD Vance, other politicians #NewsUnitedStates

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democrats’ recently selected vice-presidential nominee, owns no businesses, individual stocks, a home or other real estate — a modest financial position that may put him on par with other former high school teachers but creates a striking contrast with the Republican nominee for vice president, Sen. JD Vance (Ohio).

The financial disclosure form Walz filed with the state of Minnesota this year is nearly blank, listing no assets other than income from his government job and his wife’s work in education. Gwen Walz, a career teacher, has held several positions in recent years at Augsburg University in Minneapolis.

The couple earned a combined income of a little over $166,000 in 2022, according to their tax return, including Walz’s $115,485 annual salary as governor.

As vice president, Walz would earn a salary of $284,600, a major pay raise.

The Walzes sold their home in Mankato, Minn., after he became governor in 2019, according to real estate records. Then they moved into the Minnesota Governor’s Residence in St. Paul and are presently living in what is normally the University of Minnesota’s president’s house while the governor’s residence is being remodeled.

He is among the less wealthy candidates to run for vice president, said American University history Prof. Allan Lichtman, but not completely out of the ordinary historically. Hubert Humphrey, a college professor and radio commentator turned career politician, was not a wealthy man when he became vice president under Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, Lichtman said.

On the other end of the spectrum, Dick Cheney was serving as chief executive of energy giant Halliburton when he was chosen as George W. Bush’s running mate for the 2000 election, and he had an estimated net worth of well over $50 million when he took office. John Edwards, who had worked as a trial lawyer in North Carolina before his election to the Senate in 1998, reported a net worth between $12 million and $60 million before he became John F. Kerry’s running mate in 2004.

Walz’s financial portfolio makes him by far the least wealthy candidate on either major party ticket this year— in part because, unlike many past candidates for national office, he is not a lawyer and did not write a best-selling book.