Campaign check: Does Gov. Tim Walz own lake property in S. Dakota?

Republican lieutenant governor candidate Matt Birk applied his Twitter account about the weekend to elevate a assert circulating among conservatives that DFL Gov. Tim Walz purchased a cabin in neighboring South Dakota.

Responding to a campaign tweet from Walz about upholding “Minnesota values” this election cycle, Birk, a former Minnesota Viking, blasted Walz as a “dude from Nebraska, who just bought a lake spot in South Dakota, aiming to flip us into California, lecturing us about OUR Minnesota values.”

Nichole Johnson, Walz’s campaign supervisor, explained the claim is phony. “Neither the governor nor his partner personal any home, permit by yourself a assets in South Dakota,” she mentioned, adding: “This sort of dishonesty will not belong anyplace close to the governor’s place of work.”

Walz’s January 2022 economic disclosure with the point out confirmed no assets possession at the time. The governor and his spouse and children reside at the governor’s residence in St. Paul, which is owned by the state. Governors ordinarily dwell at the residence through their tenure in workplace. Walz sold his home in Mankato just before moving to St. Paul.

Due to the fact Sunday, the tweet has gotten hundreds of interactions on the social media system, but you will find no proof backing up Birk’s declare. The campaign of Birk and governor applicant Scott Jensen did not respond to repeated requests for far more data.

The concept that Walz owns a lake home in South Dakota seems to have to start with surfaced on social media this spring and early summertime from customers who you should not deliver any supporting evidence. One particular person regularly tweeting the claim circled Lake Hendricks, which stretches from Minnesota across the border to South Dakota, as the alleged area of Walz’s lakefront house.

But the Brookings County Equalization Office in South Dakota stated there are no property records less than the identify of possibly the governor or his spouse, Gwen Walz, any where in the county. Their data are up to date weekly.

Birk, a newcomer to politics, is the presumptive GOP nominee for lieutenant governor immediately after he and Jensen won the backing of Republican Get together activists more than 4 other candidates in May. Their ticket faces only token opposition in the approaching August primary election.