President Donald Trump on Wednesday threw his support behind MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell in Minnesota race for governor, giving him a possible boost in a competitive race for the GOP nomination.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump called Lindell “one of America’s greatest and most hard working patriots.”
“Mike will be SPECTACULAR!!! He truly loves Minnesota, as do I, and wants to bring it back from oblivion and embarrassment. He can do it!” Trump wrote.
He referred to Lindell as “the ‘Pillow Man.’”
Lindell has been an ardent supporter of Trump and a vocal backer of the president’s theory that the 2020 election was stolen. Several probes and court cases have found those allegations to be unsubstantiated.
Lindell has often been to Trump's Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida, including a fundraiser there for his Minnesota campaign. The two have kept in close contact over the years.
Lindell told MPR News Trump was the second person he told about his bid for governor, after his wife, and he sought to earn the endorsement based on the prowess of his campaign.
“I didn't ask him for his endorsement then. I wanted to get it based on merit, based on what I could do, and and and so I'm really excited that he he endorsed me today, and it's based on merit that I how I've done with my with the campaign so far,” Lindell said.
Lindell is challenging GOP endorsed candidate Kendall Qualls and Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, in the Aug. 11 primary.
Qualls responded by noting his continued support for Trump and his agenda.
“This race won’t be won by national endorsements, though; it will be decided by Minnesota Republicans — the same Republicans who supported President Trump in all three of his campaigns —and who time and time again have lined up behind our campaign as the only candidate endorsed by the Minnesota Republican Party,” Qualls said in a written statement.
Demuth issued a pair of statements on Wednesday, with the first saying she’d “unite all corners of the party” but not mentioning Trump’s move. In a later statement, she said she has partnered with Trump on tax cuts and fraud.
“President Trump has put America first, and as governor I will put Minnesota first,” the second Demuth statement concluded. “I am laser focused on winning the Aug. 11 Republican primary, and then defeating Amy Klobuchar and the radical Democrats up and down the ballot in November.”
Minnesota’s Republican Party Chair Alex Plechash issued a statement that criticized Lindell as politically problematic and a candidate who risks dragging down the rest of the ticket.
“When the going got tough under Tim Walz, Mike Lindell left Minnesota for Texas,” Plechash said. “Now he wants Minnesota Republicans to overlook his serious financial baggage, public records showing tens of thousands of dollars in delinquent property taxes, significant electability concerns, and unanswered questions surrounding his running mate.”
Plechash predicted Lindell would come up short in the primary. His statement didn’t mention that Qualls is the party-endorsed candidate.
But the president's seal of approval could sway some Minnesota Republicans. There has been little public polling in the race, but a KSTP poll last month by Survey USA showed Lindell with a slight edge even though many respondents were undecided.
Lindell said the president’s endorsement gives him more confidence heading into the primary matchup.
“Now I can concentrate. I'm not taking the primary for granted, but I want to concentrate now on getting out what I can do for Minnesota,” he said. “This will raise a lot of funding. Right now we're approaching $3 million but this should up that so we can really hit the advertising to the marketing that I have planned to go against Amy Klobuchar.”
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the likely Democratic nominee in the open governor's race.
Republicans haven’t won a statewide race in Minnesota since 2006, when Gov. Tim Pawlenty won a second term in a tight race.
Trump has focused intently on Minnesota in his second term, frequently tangling with DFL Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic Party’s 2024 vice presidential nominee. He has accused Walz of not doing more to stop fraud and made Minnesota the epicenter of his immigration enforcement campaign.
Progressive group Alliance for a Better Minnesota quickly responded to Trump’s endorsement Wednesday morning, saying Lindell would bring Trump’s “dangerous, harmful agenda to Minnesota.”
“Minnesota conservative governor candidate Mike Lindell is a far-right extremist who has spent years doing Donald Trump’s bidding,” the group’s executive director Marissa Luna said. “Lindell supports Trump’s policies that cut healthcare to give huge tax breaks to the ultra-rich and big corporations, praised Trump’s ICE operation in Minnesota, and has spread baseless election conspiracy theories.”