Who Is Gwen Walz, the Wife of Tim Walz?

As the first lady of Minnesota, Gwen Walz has championed criminal justice and education reform.

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Gwen Walz and her husband, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, outside the state capitol in St. Paul.

Gwen Walz, the wife of Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, has forged a career as an educator and school administrator, a background she has leveraged in her work as the state’s first lady.

Now with her husband selected as Vice President Kamala Harris’s nominee, she could bring that work with her to Washington if Ms. Harris wins in November.

Ms. Walz has taught at public and alternative schools, and she spent a large part of her career as an administrator in the public school district at Mankato, Minn. On her website, she says she has focused on equity in education.

She and Mr. Walz met while the two were teaching at the same high school in Alliance, Neb. He was a social studies and geography teacher at the time, after his service in the Army National Guard but before his political career began with his election to Congress in 2006. Ms. Walz, who was Gwen Whipple before marrying Mr. Walz in 1994, taught English for most of her teaching career.

She and Mr. Walz have two children, Hope, 23, and Gus, 17, and a dog named Scout.

Ms. Walz introduced herself to Minnesotans with an ambitious policy portfolio when her husband became governor in 2019. At the time, the post of the first lady had been vacant for nearly a decade, as the previous governor, Mark Dayton, was unmarried. When Ms. Walz established a physical office in the Minnesota State Capitol just steps away from her husband’s office — which previous first ladies had not done — she made a splash on the political stage with an agenda focused on criminal justice reform and education policy.

She toured state prisons and chaired a task force on reducing recidivism that focused on providing housing and education to former prisoners. As part of her efforts to reform the criminal justice system, she also sought to improve the curricula offered to inmates. Her efforts extended beyond Minnesota too, as she promoted the Bard Prison Initiative, a program in upstate New York that aims to give prisoners a liberal arts education.

Simon J. Levien is a Times political reporter covering the 2024 elections and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers. More about Simon J. Levien

See more on: Kamala Harris, 2024 Elections