![My Pillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell laughs as he greets reporters while announcing his run for Governor of Minnesota to a camera streaming to LindellTV Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025 at his company's warehouse in Shakopee, Minn. ] ANTHONY SOUFFLE • anthony.souffle@startribune.com](/cdn-cgi/image/onerror=redirect,width=640,height=640,format=webp/https://storage.googleapis.com/uploads.mongoosehq.com/url/media/135806526/198e7c25e863893bd9ebed467cbc312a997c1aa297badc77d7321d8c51317c26)
Overview
- Lindell told Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast that party leaders excluded him from a major endorsement debate for the Republican nomination for Minnesota governor.
- He framed the move as establishment resistance and accused frontrunner Lisa Demuth, the state House speaker, of failing to confront a high‑profile welfare fraud scandal during her tenure.
- Lindell said he leads Republican polling and fundraising and he touted a Trump endorsement, though an Emerson survey in February showed him trailing Democrat Amy Klobuchar by 22 points.
- His bid carries legal and financial baggage after courts found him liable for defamation tied to his 2020 election claims against a Dominion employee and Smartmatic, and he remains in a separate fight over a disputed $5 million arbitration award to an engineer who challenged his data.
- A GOP strategist quoted by CBS News questioned his seriousness as a candidate, and Republicans’ 20‑year drought in statewide races in Minnesota raises sharper electability concerns for the party.