Scott Walker’s sons support same-sex marriage and disagree with their father’s objection to last month’s Supreme Court decision legalizing it. But in an exclusive interview, Matt and Alex Walker said they are not trying to change their father’s mind.
“Matt and I aren’t necessarily changing his stances on any issues,” said 19-year-old Alex Walker, sitting next to his 21-year-old brother Matt on the lakefront of the Wisconsin governor’s mansion.
When asked if they tried, Alex responded, “no.”
“We respect his opinion on things,” he said.
The sons gave CNN an interview ahead of their father’s official announcement of his presidential campaign on Monday, touching on a wide variety of subjects — including what it was like to be the governor’s son during his heated 2011 battle, their father’s enthusiasm for karaoke and his, well, sometimes questionable wardrobe choices.
In an interview with The Washington Post, their mother, Tonette, said Matt and Alex Walker came to her expressing disappointment over her husband’s reaction to the Supreme Court decision, in which he called for a constitutional amendment giving the power over same-sex marriage to the states.
When asked about that conversation, Alex Walker revealed that he and his brother did in fact discuss the issue with their father.
“Like any family, we have disagreements,” Alex said. “He just explained his position, and that was it.”
Recall election brought them closer
Matt and Alex Walker, who take pride in being exactly one year, one month and one day apart, intend to be fully engaged in their father’s presidential race. Matt says he is taking time off from Marquette University in order to help with Scott Walker’s presidential campaign. Alex, who attends University of Wisconsin at Madison, will go back to school in the fall, but says he will stay as involved as he can.
Though their father has been Wisconsin governor since 2011, this was their first time ever sitting down together for an interview.
They did so, of course, to try to help with the launch of Scott Walker’s White House bid — help explain what kind of person he is for an audience outside Wisconsin, who may only know of Walker for making headlines in 2011 for fighting state unions in the name of saving Wisconsin taxpayer dollars.
That resulted massive protests in and around the state capitol — and a failed attempt at recalling Walker.
Matt and Alex Walker were in high school at the time, and say it got scary for them because they received death threats.
“We got a lot of those threats, we were able to just keep calm, work through them,” recalled Matt Walker.
“In a lot of these circumstances, families can kinda grow apart, or come together. I think in the end we got closer. You know, it’s hard sitting there listening to terrible attacks against family members,” said Matt Walker.
Regular dad
Matt and Alex Walker insist their father really is just the Kohl’s buying, Harley riding regular guy that the governor pushes in his stump speeches.
And just like most regular dads, Scott Walker provides some cringe-worthy moments for his sons.
“He likes to sing karaoke and embarrass Matt and I every chance he can get,” Alex Walker said.
But even worse than his singing is his wardrobe.
“The big one is that he — he wears jean shorts sometimes. And that’s a little rough,” said Matt Walker. And to be clear: not cut-off jeans, but jean shorts — with a hem.
“Fashion choices — need to be updated a little bit,” said Matt, adding a smile.
But when the boys were younger, Scott Walker used to dress like a pirate with them — which wasn’t so bad.
And on their family trips to Disney World, they say it was unclear who the kids were, and who was the adult.
“He definitely had a lot more fun than Matt and I even had,” said Alex Walker, “and that’s tough to do.”