Trump Endorsed the MyPillow Guy for Governor. Minnesota's Republican Party Endorsed Somebody Else.

MORGAN, Minn. — Among candidates for governor who turned up at Minnesota Farmfest in T-shirts and jeans, Mike Lindell stood out in a dark suit and red tie. The MyPillow founder climbed onto the stage in the barn-style pavilion and told the crowd he had something none of his rivals could match.

"I have an advantage over everyone up here. I can call up and work with the president of the United States," Lindell said, drawing applause from part of the audience.

That claim is the whole of Lindell's campaign, and on Tuesday Minnesota Republicans will decide whether it is enough. The 65-year-old Minnesota native is running in the GOP primary for the right to replace Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who decided against seeking a third term. Last week Lindell announced he was stepping down as chief executive of MyPillow to concentrate on the race. President Trump has endorsed him, and some polls indicate he could be leading the field.

The bet is an unusual one. Trump has never carried Minnesota in three campaigns for the White House. More recently his administration has singled the state out for Medicaid cuts and directed the immigration enforcement surge that left two observers dead. Lindell is running toward all of it rather than away from it, on a Trump-forward platform in a state that has repeatedly rejected the president at the ballot box.

He is also running against his own party's machinery. Minnesota Republicans endorsed a different candidate, Kendall Qualls, at their convention in May. Last week the state party chair raised questions about Lindell's residency, and a former party leader resurfaced allegations in a column in the state's largest newspaper that Lindell had physically abused a former girlfriend. Lindell has long denied the abuse allegations and says his residency is in order. He says the timing is not an accident.

"It's a coordinated attack," Lindell told reporters. "It started when I got the president's endorsement."

Lindell became a national figure by insisting, loudly and for years, that the 2020 election was stolen. Voting machine companies sued him for defamation, and one of those cases was settled. That history is precisely what draws some of the voters who lined up at the farm expo to collect campaign signs and copies of his autobiography. Mary Jo Kukacka said she is praying he wins this week.

"He's an honest individual, and he's not your typical politician promising you all kinds of stuff and not delivering," Kukacka said. "He's not a polished spokesperson, and that I kind of like also."

Republican strategist Preya Samsundar, who works in Minnesota, said the president's decision to go around the state party was predictable, but the choice of candidate was not.

"It's really not shocking to see that he has bucked the party in their endorsement process by choosing someone that he's got a close personal relationship with," Samsundar said. "I think it's more surprising that he did not choose a candidate who had an ability to win statewide."

Lindell's rivals spent the Farmfest forum making a quieter case. Qualls, the endorsed candidate, reached for a military metaphor. "When I was on active duty as an artillery officer, when the conventional forces couldn't get it done, we brought in the special forces," he said. "We brought in something different. This is why we need different leadership in the state today."

Lisa Demuth, speaker of the Minnesota House and the leader in fundraising among the Republican candidates, pointed to two years of running a chamber split down the middle. "Absolutely everything that we passed over the last two years had to be bipartisan. We have proven that we can do that here in Minnesota," Demuth said. "And as your next governor, my proof is that I can lead this state."

Waiting for whoever emerges was the Republicans' likely opponent in November, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who shared the same stage and wasted no time drawing the contrast she intends to run on.

"We do not need a governor who is a rubber stamp of Donald Trump. We need a governor who is going to put you first, who's going to put Minnesota first," Klobuchar said. She faulted all three Republicans for declining to break with Trump on tariffs, immigration policy and the war in Iran.