Mike Lindell gives MAGA movement a potent voice in Minnesota governor’s race

Mike Lindell’s entrance into the Minnesota governor’s race gives the Republican Party’s right flank a standard-bearer to support in the battle to defeat DFL Gov. Tim Walz.

Among the roughly dozen GOP candidates seeking to face Walz, perhaps no one captures the party’s right wing more than Lindell, an election-denying firebrand and darling of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. The MyPillow CEO flexed his connections to President Donald Trump’s orbit on Thursday, announcing his campaign in a conversation with Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon and telling reporters that the president’s former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is advising him.

Lindell’s celebrity status in Republican politics and loyalty to Trump likely will make him a top contender for the Minnesota GOP nomination, even as he’s faced significant legal and financial turmoil. His campaign comes as a growing number of conservatives are stressing the importance of picking a broadly electable candidate.

Influential right-wing groups and figures in Minnesota quickly embraced Lindell’s campaign for governor.

“The candidacy of Mike Lindell seems to provide a stark contrast to a field that largely consists of RINO [Republican-in-name-only] politicians climbing the political ladder,” Action 4 Liberty, a group that has sway with state GOP delegates, wrote in a blog post. The group hosted Lindell at its Christmas party Thursday night.

“Mike Lindell has my full support in his run for Minnesota governor,” added Royce White, who won the party’s nomination for U.S. Senate last year despite his own checkered past, and is running again in 2026. “His story is one of perseverance, determination and success.”

The Republican Party of Minnesota’s delegates have increasingly favored far-right candidates in recent years. The party’s endorsing convention will be held in the spring, but several candidates for governor have said they intend to take their campaigns to the August primary if they do not win the endorsement.

Republicans believe Walz is more vulnerable than ever as he seeks a third term after a failed run for vice president and intense scrutiny around fraud in state government programs.

“We literally have the Democrats handing us what I would argue is the greatest controversy to run against in the last 20 years,” said GOP operative Preya Samsundar, referring to the fraud scandal in the state’s welfare programs.

“The reality is, is Mike Lindell beloved by activists? Absolutely. Can he win a general election in a state like Minnesota? Absolutely not,” Samsundar added. “If Lindell is the nominee, Walz is a third-term governor.”

Walz’s campaign has appeared eager to run against Lindell, blasting out several fundraising emails about the Republican’s interest in the race leading up to his announcement. In a social media post Thursday, Walz said “we’ve seen what happens when we elect a con man to the highest office in America.”

“We can’t let it happen here in Minnesota,” he said.

At a GOP forum in southwestern Minnesota on Monday, a clear contrast emerged between the candidates who cast themselves as outsiders and the two state lawmakers in the race.

Lindell is also emphasizing his outsider status while standing alone as the only candidate with close ties to Trump. That could give him a leg-up on other candidates who’ve been openly seeking the president’s endorsement.

In an interview last week, Lindell said he told Trump in August he was considering running for governor. He said he hopes to receive Trump’s endorsement in the race but noted the president did not back him when he ran for chair of the Republican National Committee a few years ago.

“I don’t think Trump’s endorsement of Mike Lindell is a guaranteed thing,” Samsundar said. Trump has generally been cautious about backing candidates who could lose the general election.

Lindell’s continued promotion of the debunked theory that voting machines rigged the 2020 election would likely be a liability in the general election, and possibly even in a GOP primary. His conspiracy talk could also force other GOP candidates to respond, putting them in a politically uncomfortable spot that could find them at odds with Trump.

Lindell’s crusade against voting machine companies has cost him greatly and could affect his ability to put together a strong campaign.

A federal judge in Minnesota found that he defamed voting machine company Smartmatic with his attacks on the 2020 presidential election results. Lindell is also on the hook for $2.3 million in damages, pending appeal, following a separate defamation verdict in a suit brought by a former employee of Dominion Voting Systems, another voting machine company. He said in testimony during that case that he is $10 million in debt.

Asked Thursday if he has money to self-fund his campaign, Lindell said, “absolutely not.”

“I don’t have any money left,” he said. “It’s going to take people to get behind me, but I know they will.”

David Sturrock, a political science professor at Southwest Minnesota State University, said he believes Lindell will put a ceiling on support for his campaign if he continues to talk about 2020 conspiracies.