Mike Lindell, the ever-controversial CEO of MyPillow and a familiar face to both political junkies and late-night infomercial viewers, has thrown his hat into the ring for Minnesota’s 2026 gubernatorial race. Lindell’s announcement came on December 11, 2025, directly from the bustling floor of his Shakopee, Minnesota, factory, where the hum of pillow-making machines served as a backdrop to a campaign launch that was anything but conventional.
"I want you to know that I will stand for you as the next governor of the state of Minnesota," Lindell declared, his voice rising above the din, according to ABC News. He promised to battle what he described as “rampant fraud under Governor Walz,” as well as crime and “unnecessary regulation that strangles the entrepreneurial spirit.” The announcement was broadcast live on LindellTV and Steve Bannon’s War Room, with Bannon himself lauding Lindell as “the best opponent that somebody could field against Walz.”
The campaign launch was, in typical Lindell fashion, a spectacle. At one point, he grabbed an iPhone and its stand, dashed through his factory, and set up outside next to his campaign bus—painted in red, white, and blue, and featuring his own image with an American flag and the U.S. Constitution. The bus, as the Minnesota Reformer noted, even sported Utah plates. When his show returned from a commercial break, the bus stood as a backdrop, symbolizing his campaign’s dramatic flair.
Lindell’s decision to run for governor follows a period of “prayerful consideration and hearing from so many of you across our great state,” as he posted on social media, according to The Hill. He filed the necessary paperwork with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board the previous week, and the Star Tribune was first to break the news of his official candidacy.
He enters a crowded Republican field, with other candidates including former state Senator Scott Jensen, Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, state Representative Kristin Robbins, army veteran and health care executive Kendall Qualls, and attorney Chris Madel. The GOP primary is set for August 2026, and, as political observers note, Minnesota Republican primary voters often follow the party’s convention endorsement—a process dominated by party activists who are typically the most ideologically committed.
Lindell’s candidacy stands out not just for his business background or his outsider persona, but for his unwavering loyalty to former President Donald Trump and his high-profile promotion of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. He’s spent millions of dollars advancing claims of widespread election fraud, claims that have been widely debunked and have landed him in a web of legal and financial trouble. Lindell once even carried notes into the White House after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, notes that appeared to outline plans for Trump to remain in power through military intervention, as reported by the Minnesota Reformer.
Retail giants such as Walmart, Kohl’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, and others severed ties with MyPillow in the wake of these controversies, contributing to years of financial strain for Lindell’s business. Despite these setbacks, Lindell’s national celebrity within the MAGA movement and his close ties to Trump may give him a leg up in the party’s endorsement process, though mainstream Republicans and swing voters could find his approach off-putting.
During his campaign launch, Lindell didn’t shy away from his signature issues. He railed against voting machines—calling for Minnesota to switch to hand-counted ballots—and lambasted the media, including conservative outlets like Fox News and Newsmax, for not doing enough to expose what he claims is election fraud. “When running for governor here in Minnesota, I will have access—I don’t know how much, where—to make sure that our elections are secure—these voting machines, but they’re not,” Lindell said, according to the Minnesota Reformer. He also promised to run the state like a business, vowing to eliminate fraud in public programs and offering vague solutions for struggling malls and education, though he declined to elaborate on specifics just yet.
Lindell’s campaign will feature some familiar faces from Trump’s orbit, notably Rudy Giuliani as an advisor. Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Trump’s personal lawyer, was recently disbarred for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and now hosts a show on LindellTV.
Financially, Lindell’s campaign faces headwinds. He told reporters, “Absolutely not. I can’t self-fund. I don’t have any money left,” citing the millions he’s spent defending his election fraud theories. Court testimony in the summer of 2025 revealed Lindell was $10 million in debt. Legal woes continue to mount: in June 2025, a federal jury ordered him to pay $2.3 million for defaming a former Dominion Voting Systems employee, and in September, a judge ruled he defamed Smartmatic, with the company now seeking $1.5 billion in damages. Additionally, Dominion—now rebranded as Liberty Vote—has a $1.3 billion defamation suit against him, with the case ready for trial as of last month.
Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic incumbent, is seeking a third term and has already addressed the issue of alleged election fraud, stating that it is being audited. He responded to Lindell’s announcement with a pointed message on X (formerly Twitter): “We’ve seen what happens when we elect a con man to the highest office in America. We can’t let it happen here in Minnesota.” Walz has a track record of electoral success, having defeated Scott Jensen by nearly eight points in 2022, and serving as Kamala Harris’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election, which they won in Minnesota by just over four points. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the 2026 governor’s race as “likely Democratic.”
Democrats are betting that Lindell’s entry into the race will benefit Walz, with Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Izzi Levy characterizing the GOP primary as a “nightmare scenario” for Minnesota Republicans. The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, never one to mince words, posted on X that Lindell “represents exactly what today’s Republican Party has become: conspiratorial, extremist, and weird. We must defeat him in November.”
Lindell’s personal story is one of dramatic highs and lows. He’s spoken candidly about his decades-long battle with cocaine addiction, once describing himself as a “former crackhead” who spent 14 days awake on cocaine before his drug dealers staged an intervention. He now frames his campaign as an extension of his redemption story, promising to stand with Minnesotans through adversity.
His first campaign event is scheduled for December 13, 2025, at the Minnesota Republican Party’s State Central Committee meeting, where delegates will conduct a straw poll. While these results are typically kept under wraps, Lindell has promised to post them publicly. As the campaign heats up, all eyes will be on whether Lindell’s brand of politics can translate from national spectacle to statewide success—or if Minnesota voters will, once again, opt for a steadier hand at the helm.
