SHAKOPEE, Minn. (AP) — Mike Lindell, the staunch supporter of President Donald Trump known to viewers as “MyPillow Guy,” officially entered the Minnesota governor’s race Thursday in hopes of winning the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Gov. Tim Walz.
“I’m not going to leave any town unturned in Minnesota,” Lindell told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of a news conference scheduled for Thursday.
He said he has a history of problem-solving and personal experiences that will help businesses and fight addiction and homelessness, as well as fraud in government programs. The fraud issue has especially excited Walz, who announced in September that he is seeking a third term in the 2026 election.
TV pitchman and election denier
Lindell, 64, founded his pillow company in Minnesota in 2009 and became its public face through infomercials that became ubiquitous on late-night television. But he and his company faced a series of legal and financial setbacks after becoming a primary booster of Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged. He said he outgrew them.
“Not only have we built businesses, but you look at the solution to the problem,” Lindell said in his trademark rapid-fire style. “I was able to get through the biggest attack on a company and a person, probably other than Donald Trump, in the history of our media … law and all.”
While no Republican has won a statewide seat in Minnesota since 2006, the state’s voters have a history of making unconventional choices. They shocked the world by electing former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura as governor in 1998. And they elected a TV veteran in 1978 when they elected Rudy Boschwitz, the owner of a home improvement company, as a US senator.
Lindell has spoken frequently about how he overcame an addiction to crack cocaine through a religious conversion in 2009 while MyPillow was getting started. His life took another turn in 2016 when he met the future president during Trump’s first campaign. He served as a warm-up speaker at dozens of Trump rallies and co-chaired Trump’s campaign in Minnesota.
Trump’s endorsement could be key to which of several candidates wins the GOP nomination to challenge Walz. But Lindell said he doesn’t know what Trump will do, even though they are friends, and said his campaign is not contingent on the president’s endorsement.
His streaming platform Lindell TV made headlines in November when it became one of several conservative news outlets to become accredited to cover the Pentagon after accepting a restrictive new press policy rejected by nearly all mainstream media organizations.
Lindell has weathered a series of storms
Lindell’s outspoken support of Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen sparked a backlash as major retailers discontinued MyPillow products. By his own admission, revenue dropped and credit lines dried up, costing him millions. Several sellers have sued MyPillow over billing disputes. Fox News has stopped running its ads. The lawyers gave up on him.
Lindell has been sued twice for defamation over his claims that voting machines were rigged to deprive Trump of a victory.
A federal judge in Minnesota ruled in September that Lindell defamed Smartmatic with 51 false statements. But the judge deferred to the question of whether Lindell acted with the “actual malice” that Smartmatic must prove it collects. Smartmatic says it is seeking “nine-figure damages.”
A Colorado jury found in June that Lindell defamed a former Dominion Voting Systems executive by calling him a traitor and awarded him $2.3 million in damages.
But Lindell scored a victory in July when a federal appeals court overturned a judge’s decision that upheld a $5 million arbitration award to a software engineer who challenged data that Lindell claimed proved Chinese interference in the 2020 election. The engineer had accepted Lindell’s “Prove Mike Wrong Challenge,” which he launched as part of the 2021 Cyber Symposium in South Dakota, where he promised that he will expose electoral fraud.
The upcoming campaign
Lindell said his crusade against electronic voting machines will only be part of his platform. While Minnesota uses paper ballots, it also uses electronic tabulators to count them. Lindell wants them counted by hand, even though many election officials say automated counts are more accurate.
Some Republicans in the race include Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring; Dr. Scott Jensen, a former state senator from Chaska who was the party’s 2022 candidate; Rep. state Kristin Robbins, of Maple Grove; defense attorney and former federal prosecutor Chris Madel; and former executive director Kendall Qualls.
“These guys haven’t lived what I’m living,” Lindell said.
Lindell would not commit to honoring the Minnesota GOP endorsement and dropping out of the primary if he loses, expressing confidence he will win. He also said he will rely on his supporters to fund his campaign as his own finances are depleted. “I have no money,” he admitted.
But he added that since word got out last week that he had filed to run, “I’ve had thousands and thousands of people texting and calling, saying from all over the country … ‘Hey, I’m going to donate.’