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By Gabe Whisnant and Dan Gooding
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MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has filed paperwork to run for governor of Minnesota, registering a campaign committee that allows him to begin raising money, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported Wednesday.
Lindell said his candidacy is not yet certain but promised to announce his decision at a December 11 news conference.
Newsweek reached out to Lindell via his LindellTV press contact, as well as Governor Tim Walz' reelection campaign, for comment Wednesday afternoon.
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Why It Matters
Lindell's potential entry would upend an already crowded Republican field seeking to challenge Walz, a Democrat who ran as the vice presidential candidate for former Vice President Kamala Harris last year. Lindell has close ties to President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, having appeared at multiple campaign events during the 2024 election cycle.
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What To Know
On Wednesday, the "Mike Lindell for Governor" campaign was registered with Minnesota's Campaign Finance Board, with a website link that remains under construction.
According to the Star Tribune, Lindell said he was not 100 percent sure he would run yet, but that an announcement would come December 11.
Lindell has faced several legal issues over recent years, most notably in connection to the 2020 presidential election, after he repeatedly claimed that results had been rigged in former President Joe Biden's favor by technology company Smartmatic. A federal judge ruled earlier this year that Lindell had defamed the company.
The MyPillow CEO was also found to have defamed Eric Coomer, former employee of Dominion Voting Systems, when he made similar accusations during a livestream on his own online media platform. A jury in Denver, Colorado, ordered Lindell to pay Coomer $2.3 million.
Lindell has maintained that he wants to see electronic voting machines scrapped while continuing to push debunked claims of election fraud. He has also used his trials to push sales at MyPillow by offering customers discounts under a promo code JURY.
In June, Lindell claimed he had been worth around $60 million before he began speaking out about election fraud, but had then amassed at least $10 million in debt. Alongside his promotions on MyPillow, Lindell linked to fundraising for his legal defense, asking for donations from $10 to $1,000.
Lindell would be up against several other GOP members vying for the candidacy, including Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, 2022 nominee Scott Jensen, attorney Chris Madel and state Representative Kristin Robbins. He would not be the only business owner on the list, with Kendall Qualls, who worked for decades in the health care industry, also having launched a campaign.
Trump has been openly critical of Walz in recent days, in particular over his handling of immigration, following accusations of fraud at his Department of Human Services linked to Somali immigrants.
Walz has been a target for Trump for far longer, having run alongside Harris during the 2024 election. At the time, some Republicans gave the governor the nickname "Tampon Tim" after he signed a law required public schools to provide menstrual products to students in grades four through 12.
The issue for Trump and his supporters was that the law used gender-neutral wording, saying the products should be available “to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students."
What People Are Saying
Izzi Levy, Democratic Governors Association spokesperson, in a statement shared with Newsweek: “Mike Lindell is the latest extreme, out of touch candidate to jump into what is becoming a more chaotic and dangerous race to the far-right by the day — and his entrance into the race is a bitter pill-ow for Minnesota Republicans to swallow.
"Lindell is a sleazy businessman who has praised Republicans’ health care cuts for hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans — and that’s on top of his long record of pushing to ban abortion, bankrolling efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and even saying 9/11 was ‘a blessing in disguise.’"
Lindell, about a possible candidacy, earlier this year: "We are doing our due-diligence and so far things are looking very good! ... I will certainly be adding securing our elections to my platform! We polled Minnesota and 'secure our elections' was the #3 concern!"
What's Next
Lindell has not made a formal announcement of his candidacy. The Republican gubernatorial primary in Minnesota is set for August 11, 2026.
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