MyPillow founder Mike Lindell refused to concede Minnesota GOP gubernatorial primary loss, alleged unproven vote 'anomalies'

MyPillow founder Mike Lindell refused to concede Minnesota's Republican gubernatorial primary on August 11, 2026, after the Associated Press called the race for Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who won 43.6% of the vote to Lindell's 32.3% — a margin of roughly 11 percentage points, with third candidate Kendall Qualls taking 21.4%. Lindell, who had been endorsed by President Trump and was a leading promoter of Trump's false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, told reporters his team needed "a day" to review the results, saying "we've seen a couple of anomalies" without specifying what they were or offering evidence. He had earlier dismissed the Associated Press's call outright, telling reporters "why would I listen to the AP?" and insisting he would not give up the race "until the votes are counted where I can't win."

Lindell settled a $1 billion defamation suit with Dominion Voting Systems the previous month over his spread of false 2020 election-fraud claims, and was separately ordered to pay a former Dominion employee $2.3 million in damages. His refusal to accept Tuesday's primary result came without any legal challenge or specific factual claim, echoing the same undocumented "irregularities" framing he used after his 2020 election-denial campaign. Demuth, the first Republican woman nominated for Minnesota governor, advances to face Democratic nominee Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November.