Demuth defeats Lindell in Minnesota GOP governor primary

Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth won the Republican primary for governor, defeating Trump-backed MyPillow founder Mike Lindell and setting up a general election race against Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

NBC News projected Demuth’s victory, and NPR reported that The Associated Press also called the race for her. Klobuchar won the Democratic primary decisively, NPR reported.

Demuth, 59, overcame Lindell, a close ally of President Donald Trump who had led in limited public polling before Election Day and received Trump’s endorsement last month. Lindell, known nationally for promoting debunked claims about the 2020 presidential election, drew intense attention during the primary, including criticism from within his own party.

Republican leaders in Minnesota questioned Lindell’s electability, residency and business record in the final weeks of the campaign. NBC News reported that the chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party raised questions about Lindell’s residency as some GOP officials sought a nominee they believed could defeat Klobuchar in November.

Demuth also defeated Kendall Qualls, a businessman who had received the state Republican Party’s endorsement in May, according to NPR.

Demuth campaigned as the Republican best positioned to end the party’s more than two-decade losing streak in Minnesota statewide races. As speaker, she has presided over a state House that NPR described as almost evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, and she emphasized her ability to work across the aisle.

She also pointed to her record in negotiations with Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, saying she had gone “toe-to-toe” with him in state budget talks to fight for conservative priorities, NPR reported.

The fall campaign is expected to focus heavily on fraud in state programs. Demuth and other Republicans, including Trump, have attacked Democrats over sprawling fraud scandals involving Medicaid and pandemic aid. The allegations include hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen money that had been earmarked for welfare programs.

At a Minnesota Farmfest forum earlier this month, Klobuchar appeared alongside three Republican candidates for governor and accused each of being “a rubber stamp of Donald Trump.” At the same event, Demuth blamed “incompetent Democrat control” for the fraud cases. On the campaign trail, she has cited the Fraud Prevention Agency Oversight Committee she established while leading the state House.

Walz had planned to seek a third term but ended his re-election campaign in January, citing attacks over the fraud cases. NPR reported that Walz said he would focus on tackling fraud in state programs during his remaining time in office. Klobuchar entered the governor’s race a few weeks later. NBC News reported that she is one of four senators seeking the governorship in their home state this year.

Lindell has faced several legal challenges since 2020, when he championed Trump’s false claims that the presidential election won by former President Joe Biden was stolen. NPR reported that some Republicans worried Lindell’s association with Trump would hurt him in a general election; Trump lost Minnesota in each of his three presidential campaigns. NPR also reported that Trump’s administration launched an immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota that left two observers dead and prompted weeks of unrest.

Republicans face a difficult political landscape in November. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris won Minnesota by about 4 percentage points in the most recent presidential election, with Walz as her running mate.