MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell launches campaign for Minnesota governor

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell launched his campaign for Minnesota governor on Thursday, vowing to fix the state’s problems, run the government like a business and not back down from his debunked election fraud theories.

Lindell’s entrance into the race is likely to shake up the political landscape in Minnesota, as the close ally of President Donald Trump instantly became the most well-known Republican running for governor in a field of about a dozen candidates seeking to face Gov. Tim Walz. Lindell is also likely to be a top contender for the Minnesota GOP nomination due to his prominence in the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

Lindell told the Minnesota Star Tribune he considers himself the front-runner in the GOP field for governor, even as he’s faced intense legal and financial turmoil that’s threatened the survival of his company.

“I’m going to win,” Lindell said in an interview Wednesday at MyPillow’s Chaska headquarters.

Other GOP candidates for governor were already jockeying for Trump’s endorsement when Lindell entered the race. Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, 2022 gubernatorial nominee Scott Jensen, state Rep. Kristin Robbins, Minneapolis attorney Chris Madel and businessman Kendall Qualls, also are seeking the GOP nomination, among others.

Lindell said he told Trump in August he was considering running for Minnesota governor, but he declined to say how the president responded. He said he hopes to receive Trump’s endorsement but noted the president did not back him when he ran for chair of the Republican National Committee.

Lindell said Trump’s former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is giving him political advice. He said Giuliani now works for his media network, LindellTV.

The pillow magnate said he jumped into the governor’s race of his own accord, not because anyone else asked him to. He wants the Republican Party of Minnesota’s delegates to support him because of his vision for the state rather than his ties to the president.

“I believe I will stand on my own merit,” Lindell said.

Walz, who is widely seen as a political foe to Trump, is seeking a historic third consecutive four-year term after a failed run for vice president. The DFL governor is trying to make next year’s election a referendum on Trump as Republicans criticize his handling of major fraud cases in state welfare programs.

Walz’s campaign has already been hammering Lindell for his ties to Trump, labeling him “the far-right CEO, election denier, and Donald Trump’s top ally in Minnesota.”

“Mike Lindell is selling conspiracies, MAGA extremism, and pillows. He has no business holding the highest office in our state,” Walz’s campaign said in a fundraising blast last week.

A federal judge in Minnesota found that Lindell 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.

Many big-box stores dropped the MyPillow in 2021 after Lindell became a national figure on election conspiracies. Since then, he’s auctioned off equipment and faced eviction notices over unpaid rent. In September, he put his Chaska headquarters up for sale, consolidating office space in Shakopee.

Even so, Lindell continues to claim the 2020 election was “stolen.” Speaking to the Star Tribune, he also called Dominion and Smartmatic “criminal enterprises,” and claimed without evidence there were irregularities in the 2024 and 2025 elections.

“This is not one side stealing from the other,” he said. “It’s the uniparty, deep state, globalists.”

But, Lindell added, “my whole campaign is not going to be about the [voting] machines.”

And Lindell said he’ll also push for changes to the state’s election system, such as hand-counting paper ballots. He said he’s been attacked “more than any company in history” for his election fraud theories, but he and MyPillow are both still standing.

In the coming months, Lindell said he plans to “be everywhere” as he travels across the state to talk with voters.