President Donald Trump endorsed MyPillow founder Mike Lindell to be the next governor of Minnesota early Wednesday morning. That endorsement is a major boost for Lindell and likely makes him the frontrunner in the Republican primary.
“Mike will be SPECTACULAR!!!,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “He truly loves Minnesota, as do I, and wants to bring it back from oblivion and embarrassment. He can do it! Nobody has sacrificed more than Mike Lindell in fighting for our country, especially when it comes to Election Integrity.”
Concluding his message, Trump gave Lindell his “COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT.”
Lindell reacted to the endorsement, saying, “Thank you, Mr. President! I truly appreciate your confidence in me as I run to become the next Governor of Minnesota.”
“Let’s Make Minnesota Great Again!” Lindell added.
Prior to Trump’s endorsement, the Republican primary for Minnesota governor appeared to be a relatively close contest between Lindell, Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, and former business executive Kendall Qualls.
In May, Qualls won the Republican endorsement for governor of Minnesota. However, his campaign has lagged behind Lindell and Demuth in both polling and fundraising.
Last month, a poll from KSTP/SurveyUSA showed Lindell at 27%, Demuth at 22%, and Qualls at 17% in the race for the GOP nomination. Conversely, an internal poll from a pro-business nonprofit showed Demuth in first, Qualls in second, and Lindell in third.
Meanwhile, campaign finance reports from June showed Lindell had raised $648,959 since Jan. 1 of this year. In the same period, Demuth raised $360,074, and Qualls raised $211,304. However, Demuth had the most money on hand at the time with $517,679.
Now, Trump’s endorsement of Lindell, a longtime ally of the president, likely makes him the odds-on favorite to win the Republican primary on Aug. 11. Whichever Republican emerges from the primary will almost certainly face DFL U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the general election.
Alpha News reached out to the Demuth campaign and the Qualls campaign for comment on the president’s endorsement of Lindell.
In a statement to Alpha News, Qualls praised the president and described himself as “a proud supporter of [Trump’s] since day one,” but said “this race won’t be won by national endorsements though; it will be decided by Minnesota Republicans.”
Qualls continued, saying Minnesota Republicans “know that I’m the one candidate that can beat a 20-year sitting U.S. Senator, not Lisa Demuth or Mike Lindell.”
Meanwhile, Demuth issued a one-sentence statement to Alpha News that did not directly address Trump’s endorsement.
“I’m running to unite all corners of the party and deliver a victory in November up and down the ballot, and to save Minnesota from the radical and extreme Democrat agenda,” she said.
Eventually, Demuth released a longer statement which praised Trump and said, “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 Republican Party Chairman Alex Plechash also issued a statement, saying, “We were surprised by President Trump’s endorsement of Mike Lindell. We strongly support the President and his agenda, but Minnesota Republicans must choose the candidate best positioned to defeat Amy Klobuchar.”
Plechash proceeded to slam Lindell in his statement, saying the MyPillow founder “left Minnesota for Texas. 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.”
“Minnesota cannot afford to nominate a ticket that gives Democrats an easy target and creates the very real possibility of another DFL trifecta,” Plechash added.
Trump endorsements in GOP gubernatorial primary elections have carried significant weight during the 2026 election cycle. Thus far, nearly every GOP governor candidate endorsed by Trump has gone on to win their primary with notable exceptions in Iowa and Georgia.
In Iowa, Trump-backed Congressman Randy Feenstra lost by less than one point to Zach Lahn, a first-time candidate and farmer. In Georgia, the president endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones who lost to health care executive Rick Jackson, another first-time candidate.
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
