Minnesota Republicans spent almost a half-day and needed 10 ballots Saturday to endorse former health executive Kendall Qualls for governor, putting him in a strong position to be the party’s fall candidate if he can survive a summer primary.
Qualls won at a GOP convention plagued by problematic vote clickers that left some rivals doubting the process.
The party made history: Qualls is the first black candidate to win a major party endorsement for governor in Minnesota. Just after 9 p.m., he surpassed the 60 percent threshold in a head-to-head showdown over lone remaining opponent, House Speaker Lisa Demuth.
Qualls shied from that achievement after he clinched the endorsement.
“If you look at this room, I think there's probably three black people, including me, maybe two,” he said to reporters. “It doesn't matter about race. We don't care about race, social status. Do you love this country? Do you love this state? Can you help us be successful? That's what they care about.”
It wasn’t an easy path to the party backing. The field had been narrowed from a starting crop of six.
Qualls, who was also a candidate in 2022 for the same office, ran on an outside message. He stressed that he had the profile the party needs after two full decades of losses in statewide races.
“After 20 years, I think at a certain time you got to say, ‘Okay, maybe we can't get it done,’” Qualls said of candidates with traditional political backgrounds. “Let's get something different.”
Qualls will still have to overcome some in an August primary, with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell pledging to move forward and spend a lot of money to try to wrest the endorsement. Demuth had vowed to abide by the party endorsement. But on Saturday, she objected to the voting process Saturday. She would have to file for the ballot by Tuesday to qualify for the primary.
Demuth raised questions about the integrity of the electronic voting technology after “inconsistencies” were tracked earlier in the day. Delegates voted with hand-held clickers similar to a TV remote control.
Demuth and her supporters said the glitches gave them pause about the election outcome.
“Election integrity matters, even when it comes down to something as broken as a system as this. Election integrity matters. There is no confidence in what is happening,” Demuth said ahead of the final rounds of voting.
She didn’t speak to reporters after Qualls crossed the victory threshold. Demuth would need to file with the secretary of state’s office to get on the primary ballot.
Qualls said the delay and the question about the integrity of the vote were a pretext for Demuth to bypass the endorsement process and move to a primary.
“The corrupt St. Paul swamp, the establishment we've been talking about, want to protect themselves, because it's been a two-hour delay,” Qualls said. “They can play with all the shenanigans and all the things they want. These clickers were working for all day yesterday for every candidate.”
Democrats are almost certain to nominate their endorsed candidate, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar. She won the DFL nod early Saturday on that convention’s first ballot.