What Tim Walz's Daughter Hope Really Does For A Living

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The daughter Tim Walz shares with his wife Gwen couldn't make him more proud. The Democratic vice-presidential nominee couldn't contain his pride while telling a crowd that Hope is a social worker and a ski instructor, a moment that was caught on camera and shared on TikTok in August 2024. But his bond with his daughter, whom Tim and Gwen welcomed after a difficult fertility journey, goes beyond her professional achievements.

Many of their father-daughter moments have gone viral since Vice President Kamala Harris picked him for her ticket, highlighting their adorable relationship. In a resurfaced video from the 2023 Minnesota State Fair, Walz shared how Hope tricked him into going on one of the event's most extreme rides — the slingshot. "Which I don't know what it is, and they're keeping it from me," he said. The video then cuts to footage of the governor next to his daughter on the ride that, well, slingshots riders into the air. He wasn't mad, though. "All right, Minnesota, it's worth it," he said while catching his breath.

Tim seems well aware that his relationship with Hope has the potential to attract the attention of younger voters. In 2019, he even used her in a video to promote Minnesota's hands-free law, which prohibits drivers from holding a cell phone while behind the wheel. While filming it, the two go back and forth, teasing each other's generations as they get their point across. Tim sure is a proud dad.

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Hope Walz graduated with a bachelor's degree in criminology and a minor in women's gender and sexuality studies from Montana State University in 2023 and went on to find a job at a homeless shelter in Bozeman, Montana, as Tim Walz shared in the viral video. And that's in addition to her work as a ski instructor at Big Sky Resort. Hope surely is busy. However, some had an issue with her dad's use of the title "social worker" to define what his daughter does.

In a Reddit thread, some argued that her degree doesn't qualify for the title since she didn't earn a Master of Social Work degree. "The social worker title must be the most misused in all of history," one user wrote. But others came to her defense. "I have an MSW, but it's not like being a lawyer, a lot of people have a job title 'social worker' or could be described as social worker who do not have a master's degree," argued another.

Regardless of bureaucratic details, Hope works with vulnerable populations, which fits the broad definition used by the National Association of Social Workers. Tim certainly isn't concerned about the definition. Instead, he chooses to focus on what his daughter actually does and how much it has inspired him. "I listen to her. I get her work ethic, the things she cares about," he said on the "Pod Save America" podcast in July 2024.