ToplineMyPillow founder Mike Lindell lost to Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth in the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, but Lindell, a prominent promoter of President Donald Trump’s 2020 voter fraud allegations, refused to concede immediately. Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Lindell speaks during a Minnesota gubernatorial candidate forum. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Key Facts Lindell, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, came in a distant second with 32.3% of the vote. Kendall Qualls, a former health care executive who endorsed the Minnesota Republican Party, came in third with 21.4% of the vote. Amy Klobuchar won the Democratic primary with 89.6% of the vote and polls show her with a wide lead in the general election. Lindell told reporters after the race was called that his team needed “a day” to review the results, claiming, without evidence, that they had “seen a couple of anomalies.” Lindell is a close ally of Trump, who wrote in Truth Social on Tuesday that Lindell “deserves a BIG WIN IN MINNESOTA today,” adding, “No one has worked harder and given up so much in the fight for free and fair elections.” Small but growing list of Republican candidates who have failed to win their primaries despite having the president’s backing. TangentLindell has faced several controversies during the campaign. The Minnesota Republican Party questioned whether Lindell has lived in the state long enough to qualify for governor. Lindell said he lived in Texas last year but returned to Minnesota before the one-year deadline before the Nov. 3 general election to qualify as a candidate. A judge also found probable cause last week that Lindell may have violated campaign laws by handing out pillows in packages that said “Mike Lindell for Governor” during a Fourth of July parade. Lindell, who resigned as CEO of MyPillow, settled a $1 billion defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems last month after the company sued him for spreading false claims that the company rigged the 2020 presidential election. Key Background Walz, Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election, announced in January that he would not seek a third term following revelations of a massive welfare fraud scheme and social services. Walz said he was dropping out of the race to focus on his job as governor and deal with the fallout from the fraud scheme. Federal prosecutors have estimated that the amount stolen could exceed $9 billion, a figure Walz has disputed but acknowledged could run into the billions. Trump and his allies have used the plot to attack Walz’s Democratic administration and the state’s Somali community, as some of the defendants are of Somali descent. The case involves multiple programs that receive public funding in children’s services, education, child care and food security.
