Demuth defeats Lindell in Minnesota GOP governor primary

Lisa Demuth won Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial primary Tuesday, defeating Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder and prominent 2020 election denier, despite a late push from Donald Trump on Lindell’s behalf.

The Associated Press called the race for Demuth, the Minnesota House speaker, late Tuesday night. Lindell refused to concede the next morning, even as he trailed by a double-digit margin with almost all votes counted. Demuth led Lindell by more than 45,000 votes, 43.4% to 32.5%, according to The Guardian. Businessman Kendall Qualls, who had the backing of the state Republican Party, was in third place.

Earlier in the count, with 73% of votes reported, the AP called the race for Demuth shortly before 11:30 p.m. ET, Talking Points Memo reported. At that point, Demuth had 44.7% of the vote, Lindell had 31.3% and Qualls had 21.4%.

Told on his streaming channel, LindellTV, that the AP had declared the race over, Lindell rejected the call. Asked why he would not accept it, he questioned the AP’s authority and said hundreds of thousands of votes remained uncounted.

“I’m not going to give up this race until the votes are counted,” Lindell said. “That’s nonsense.”

Lindell did not respond to The Guardian’s request for comment on what steps he might take next to contest the election.

Demuth becomes the first woman to win a Minnesota Republican gubernatorial nomination. She called the result a milestone but said her campaign’s work was “not done yet.” She will face Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November, after Klobuchar easily won her own primary. Talking Points Memo reported that Klobuchar won the Democratic-Farmer-Labor gubernatorial primary Tuesday with more than 89% of the vote after securing the party’s endorsement in June.

The candidates are running to succeed Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who announced earlier this year that he would not seek a third term. Talking Points Memo reported that the last Republican to serve as Minnesota governor was Tim Pawlenty, who won his first term in 2003 and served until 2011.

Lindell entered the race with Trump’s endorsement but without the Minnesota Republican Party’s backing. The party endorsed Qualls, a former health care executive and Army veteran, in June. Lindell stayed in the race and told Talking Points Memo that month that his focus was on “campaigning against Amy Klobuchar, and these numbers should take care of itself when the people vote in August.” He added, “It doesn’t matter who the Republican is, the people want me.”

Trump endorsed Lindell in July, calling him “one of America’s greatest and most hard working Patriots,” according to Talking Points Memo. On Tuesday, Trump urged Minnesota Republicans on social media to give Lindell a decisive win and praised his commitment to “free and fair” elections, The Guardian reported.

Lindell has built much of his political profile around false claims that Trump’s 2020 defeat was caused by a rigged and stolen election. The Guardian reported that he has said he spent tens of millions of dollars pursuing those claims through lawsuits, documentaries and conferences, even as courts repeatedly rejected them. Last month, he settled a $1.3 billion defamation suit brought by Liberty Vote, formerly known as Dominion Voting Systems, over stolen-election claims. Talking Points Memo reported that in March, Lindell was held in contempt by a Trump-appointed federal judge for failing to pay more than $50,000 in sanctions to voting machine company Smartmatic tied to a “frivolous” lawsuit.

His campaign also faced questions about his eligibility and finances. The Guardian reported that Lindell was not registered to vote in Minnesota for weeks while running for governor, with his registration still active in Texas, though Minnesota’s same-day registration rules allowed him to vote and run. Talking Points Memo reported that allegations that Lindell violated campaign finance laws by giving away free pillows during a July 4 parade will be heard by a three-judge administrative panel.