A one-night stay at a Donald Trump-branded hotel in New York’s Central Park location typically costs nearly $700 per night — at minimum.
But to stay at the personal home of Tim Walz — the new vice presidential running mate of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris — cost somewhere between $2,501 and $5,000 per year in 2017.
A review of Walz’s personal financial disclosures from his 12 years in Congress reveals a seemingly run-of-the-mill financial situation filled with a teacher’s pension, a mortgage and a life insurance plan.
In this respect, Walz most definitely fits Harris' bill: Since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee next month upon President Joe Biden's exit from the race, Harris has telegraphed that "building up the middle class will be a defining goal" of her presidency, were she to win the White House.
Walz’s personal finances stand in stark contrast to Republican presidential nominee Trump, whose extreme wealth and exotic financial arrangements are a point of endless pride for the former president. Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), who grew up in poverty, now boasts multi-million dollar wealth from real estate to venture capital funds to book royalties and stock investments, according to his 2022 Senate financial disclosure. (Both Trump and Vance requested extensions for filing their disclosures that cover finances in 2023.)
Even Harris’ financial picture shows assets totaling in the millions of dollars between the exchange-traded funds and retirement accounts she and her husband own – plus she’s benefitted from some perks such as comped tickets to a Beyoncé concert and a Howard University football game (her alma mater), valued just under $2,000 each, according to her latest public financial disclosure.
The personal finances of Walz, currently the governor of Minnesota, appear decidedly more relatable to the average American, whose median net worth is $192,900.
Walz’s final congressional financial disclosure, filed in March 2019, after he was elected governor, lists the Education Minnesota and Minnesota State Retirement System pensions both he and his wife receive (they met working at the same high school), along with life insurance policies for each of them valued up to $50,000.
There’s an education savings plan for up to $15,000, a refinanced mortgage valued up to $500,000 and a personal loan for between $10,000 and $15,000.
The rented room in Walz’s Mankato, Minn., personal home brought in between $1,001 and $2,500 at the time of the 2019 filing.
As governor of Minnesota, Walz earns $127,629 per year. The salary went up to $149,550 on July 1, but Walz declined to take the extra money, according to Minnesota state records.
When Walz represented Minnesota as a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, he was one of the champions for the 2012 passage of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which intended to stop insider trading, curb conflicts-of-interest and enhance transparency. It required key government officials, including members of Congress, to publicly report within 45 days most purchases, sales and exchanges of stocks, bonds, commodity futures, securities and cryptocurrencies.
Numerous legislators have pushed for an outright ban on congressional stock trading in the years since as numerous legislators have violated the STOCK Act with little consequence. One of the latest bill, the ETHICS Act, passed out of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs last month, which would also require the president and vice president to divest from covered investments by 2027.
“It is the honor of a lifetime to join @kamalaharris in this campaign. I’m all in,” Walz posted on X on Tuesday. “Vice President Harris is showing us the politics of what’s possible. It reminds me a bit of the first day of school.”
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, responded to Raw Story's questions about candidates' personal financials with links to the Trump campaign's various statements about Walz.
"While Walz pretends to support Americans in the Heartland, when the cameras are off, he believes that rural America is ‘mostly cows and rocks’," said Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign press secretary, in a statement. "From proposing his own carbon-free agenda, to suggesting stricter emission standards for gas-powered cars, and embracing policies to allow convicted felons to vote, Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide."
Walz’s gubernatorial office and the Harris campaign did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
