President Trump endorses MyPillow founder Mike Lindell in Minnesota governor’s race

Mike Lindell (R-Minn.)

WASHINGTON (KFGO-WCCO) – President Trump says he’s endorsing MyPillow founder Mike Lindell to be the next governor of Minnesota.

In a truth social post Wednesday morning, the president wrote that Lindell will bring Minnesota back from “oblivion and embarrassment,” adding “nobody has sacrificed more than Mike Lindell in fighting for our country.”

In May, Kendall Qualls won the GOP endorsement for governor. Qualls and House Speaker Lisa Demuth have been neck-and-neck through straw polls and other polling so far, with Lindell well back.

But Lindell has also been a fervent supporter of President Trump, and has also been a frequent 2020 election denier.

Qualls and Demuth have been neck-and-neck through straw polls and other polling so far, with Lindell well back.

Lindell established his national profile from his TV advertising campaign as the MyPillow Guy and has been one of Trump’s biggest supporters, echoing the president’s false claims that his 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden was fraudulent.

“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 Wednesday, referring to Lindell as “the ‘Pillow Man.’

Trump has hammered outgoing Gov. Tim Walz, Democrats’ 2024 vice presidential nominee, as incompetent and accused his administration of allowing rampant fraud in federal spending on childcare. Trump has also employed racist rhetoric to target Minnesota’s Somali immigrant population as driving the alleged fraud. Walz disputes the Trump administration’s characterizations.

Political Analyst Blois Olson has said that many on the Republican side of the aisle were hoping for a showdown in the primary between the three candidates.

“I think it’s the primary that Republican activists kind of want,” said Olson. “They want this to play out. So you have Kendall Qualls, Mike Lindell, Lisa Demuth, and then there might be a couple of others. But it’ll be basically a three-way race between those guys.”

Minnesota U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar is the DFL’s choice to run for governor, and won the party endorsement at that state convention.