Olson: Demuth brings Trump into the governor’s race, leaning into MAGA outrage

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House Speaker Lisa Demuth entered the 2026 governor’s race, became the Republican front-runner and immediately made her candidacy a showdown between Gov. Tim Walz and President Donald Trump.

At a Capitol news conference and in an online video, Demuth said she wants to help Minnesotans afford their lives, although she was fuzzy on details about how she would deliver.

What was clear is that she’s on the move against Walz, whose image appears before Demuth’s in the new candidate’s video.

“Think of how easy it would be to be a damn Republican: What should I wear today? This stupid, fricking red hat?” Walz says in the footage. Next he’s quoted saying, “Donald Trump’s Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets” and “Our country’s being stole[n] by fascists and Nazis.”

The first we see of Demuth is her hand as it hits the power button on a car radio.

Walz “doesn’t just disagree with us. He hates us,” Demuth says. Then comes video of Trump walking down a flag-lined hallway, saluting military officers in dress uniforms.

Demuth’s voice-over returns, saying Walz is more interested in “attacking Trump than on fixing Minnesota.”

Those are the only two sides in Demuth’s debut video: Trump versus Walz.

It wasn’t wholly surprising but a little disappointing. Demuth could have hewed closer to her Capitol persona, which is an even-keeled and deliberative Midwestern warmth, not MAGA ferocity and outrage. Maybe this is merely foreshadowing what is to come.

Her alignment with Trump isn’t entirely new; she was on stage briefly with him when he was in St. Cloud for a campaign rally in July 2024.

Trump hasn’t factored in much at the Capitol. Demuth and her fellow legislators generally avoid invoking his name, so it was notable that one of her first moves as a statewide candidate was not to run, but literally race, toward the president.

Her courting of Trump also shows how running for the state’s top job is different than balancing the goals of a 67-member House GOP in negotiations with the DFL governor, as well as DFLers in the House and Senate.

As a legislative negotiator, Demuth was both a tenacious advocate for the GOP interests while largely maintaining an amicable relationship with DFLers. Now she’s flashing a different side, fully aware that signs of collegiality could now work against her with Republican stalwarts.

At her Capitol kickoff, Demuth was asked to identify what Trump policies she likes. She said the president “has definitely delivered on the promises” and cited Border Patrol.

“When I think of our northern border here in the state of Minnesota, we have safer borders throughout our entire country, which means our communities are safer,” she said.

Demuth is going to face many more questions about when and if she will side with Trump and the extent of her agreement with his policies. She’s going to need to provide clear answers on Trump and much more, including her own positions.

For example, she described Minnesota as “definitely overtaxed” but was then unwilling, perhaps unprepared, to detail what taxes or policies she wants to roll back.

As speaker, Demuth’s been a foil to DFL leaders and the governor, calling them to task without the requirement of providing a full-scale counter-budget or counter-proposals.

Demuth’s campaign video largely highlighted economic issues, saying families are “living in fear of crime and rising costs” while drugs are “flooding our streets.”

She also dipped into one deeply polarizing social issue as an image of a young female athlete pops up and Demuth’s voice pledges to fight hard “to make sure girls’ spaces are for girls, not men in dresses.”

Demuth’s an undeniable jolt, an exciting addition to the Republican field. She’s a Black woman running for governor in a state that’s never elected a woman or a person of color to the office. Everything she does from here on out will attract a ton of attention.

“Going forward, my focus will include growing our economy, making Minnesota a business-friendly state,” Demuth said at her kickoff.

A strong campaign, however, will require much more than the denigration of Walz and a celebration of Trump. Demuth must detail how she will curb fraud and address Minnesotans’ economic stress while also being candid about her own views on abortion, guns and LGBTQ matters.

Given that Demuth is clearly courting Trump, she should delineate her agreements and divergence with the president as well as how she, as governor, would accommodate him in Minnesota.