Trump-endorsed Mike Lindell has lost in the Republican primary for governor of Minnesota, but the famed 2020 election denier is refusing to accept the result.
When Tuesday’s race was called by the Associated Press, Lindell had about 31 percent of the vote in the multi-person primary. Winner Lisa Demuth, the speaker of the Minnesota House, will face Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November.
Later, with 97 percent of the votes counted, Demuth sat at 43.5 percent, with “MyPillow guy” Lindell sitting behind at 32.4 percent.
It was the latest electoral bruising for President Donald Trump, But Lindell refused to accept the result, saying he was waiting for more “day-of” votes—cast on Election Day itself—to be counted.
“I’m down by 20,000 votes with 277,00 votes left to count,” Lindell said while votes were being counted on Tuesday night. “Now, would you give up if you got 277,000 left to count? And these are the day-of votes, which haven’t been counted yet.”
KSTP TV reporter Kirsten Swanson said that Lindell claimed there were irregularities in the vote count.
“Lindell will not concede,” Swanson said. “Claims there are anomalies in the numbers that his teams will be looking into overnight.”
Lindell, who stepped down as CEO of MyPillow to run for governor, was endorsed and actively supported by Trump. The 80-year-old president sang his praises last month during a gala at his Bedminster National Golf Club in New Jersey,
Trump appeared at the glitzy gala to support Lindell hours after the deaths of two U.S. service members had been confirmed in his war on Iran.
It remains to be seen whether Lindell, who once claimed “Satan” had been involved in the 2020 election, will have something similar to say about his loss Tuesday.
His campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast. The Daily Beast has also reached out to the White House for comment.
At around 11 p.m. EST, Lindell was still holding out hope, saying on a livestream watch party that one batch of votes that had come in could mean he “could have the lead within an hour.”
About a half-hour later, the AP called the race for his opponent.
Lindell, 65, is now the third Trump-backed candidate who has lost primaries in the 2026 cycle.
Last week, hard-line Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles and Michigan Rep Amir Hassan both lost their seats despite being endorsed by Trump.
On Tuesday, Trump desperately attempted to sway some of his 13 million Truth Social followers to vote for the 65-year-old.
“Mike Lindell deserves a BIG WIN IN MINNESOTA today. Nobody has worked harder, and given up so much, in fighting for free and fair Elections,” Trump wrote, commanding his followers “Go out, NOW, and VOTE for Mike Lindell for Governor.”
Trump endorsed Lindell in July on Truth Social, claiming that, “Nobody has sacrificed more than Mike Lindell in fighting for our country, especially when it comes to Election Integrity,” before offering his “COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT.”
Lindell’s backing of Trump, including spreading debunked conspiracy theories about Trump’s 2020 election loss and refusing to back down, has seen him rack up costly court fines.
Lindell told the Associated Press in 2023 that after defamation lawsuits by voting-machine companies he was out of money and couldn’t pay the unspecified millions in legal fees he owed.
MyPillow was ordered to pay DHL $780,000 in January 2025 after a contract violation.
In March, Lindell was ordered to pay $56,369 to the voting-machine company Smartmatic USA after the company successfully sued him for defamation, including an additional $500 for each day he failed to make the payment.
In July, Dominion Voting Systems, now known as Liberty Vote, ended their $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against Lindell, claiming he pushed false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Both parties agreed to a “confidential settlement.”
