A rumor that circulated online in late June 2025 claimed the U.S. Democratic Party had begun considering a 2028 presidential ticket featuring Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for president and New York City Democratic mayoral primary winner Zohran Mamdani for vice president. Walz previously served in 2024 as the vice-presidential running mate to former Vice President Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, Mamdani was born in Uganda, making him ineligible to run for president and vice president, per the Constitution.
For example, on June 28, Eric Daugherty, an assistant news director for Florida's Voice — a publication favored by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — posted (archived), "UPDATE: Democrats begin to float running Tim Walz for president and Zohran Mamdani as Vice President in 2028." The post had received nearly 2 million views as of this writing.
The post also featured a community note (not pictured). (Image courtesy of @EricLDaugh/X)
After Daugherty's post, numerous users on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived) and X (archived) also shared the rumor.
However, the rumor originated with an unofficial social media account. Because of this and Mamdani's ineligibility for the presidential ticket, we've rated this claim false.
Snopes contacted Daugherty by email to ask about the sources he used to report his alleged news viewed. In response, he said, "I am no fan of Snopes because of its bias, so I hope you prove me wrong in this instance. My post said that 'Democrats begin to float' running Walz and Mamdani. That post stemmed from a Democrat-run account named 'Walz for President 2028,' saying, 'thoughts on this ticket?' with 1.6K likes and 1.2M views, showing Walz and Mamdani."
X user WALZ FOR PRESIDENT 2028 (@Walz4Pres), the account Daugherty referenced, did post (archived) on June 26, also with nearly 2 million views, a photo of Walz alongside a picture of Mamdani with the caption, "Thoughts on this ticket?" However, the user's bio displayed the text, "NOT AFFILIATED WITH TIM WALZ" — a statement confirming the @Walz4Pres user as an unofficial fan account.
(Image courtesy of @Walz4pres/X)
Hours later, @Walz4Pres addressed the fact that an idea mentioned in their post — existing as nothing more than one user's social media survey — had become a news story. "Did I just create a breaking story?," the user asked, referencing another popular post (archived) promoting the rumor. The way that the post ballooned into a larger story provided the unsubstantiated impression that Democratic officials had floated the idea of a Walz-Mamdani ticket for 2028, even though the posts did not specifically name party officials.
In previous months, @Walz4Pres promoted additional presidential tickets featuring Walz with other prominent Democrats, including some pictures generated with artificial-intelligence tools. Those running mates included U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas (archived), Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. (archived), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (archived), Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (archived) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY (archived). Another of the user's posts (archived) promoted a Democratic ticket without Walz, featuring "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart with ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith.
For further reading, another fact check examined a rumor claiming the Walz family once gifted their former vehicle to a family living in their neighborhood.