Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder turned MAGA superstar, has filed to run for governor of Minnesota, according to a new report.
On Wednesday, a committee called “Mike Lindell for Governor” officially registered with the state’s Campaign Finance Board, permitting him to raise funds for the race, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported.
Lindell told the newspaper that he “isn’t 100 percent sure” about running yet and he is “going to announce either way on December 11.”
If he decides to throw his hat in the ring — and wins the Republican primary — Lindell would face off against incumbent Democrat Tim Walz, who is seeking a third term in 2026. Walz unsuccessfully ran as former Vice President Kamala Harris’ vice presidential nominee in 2024.
There’s already a sizable line-up of Republicans seeking to unseat Walz, including Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth and business executive Kendall Qualls. But Lindell is confident he would come out on top.
“If there was someone to win, it would be me,” Lindell told the Star Tribune.
Born and raised in Minnesota, Lindell dropped out of college around 1979 and became addicted to crack, cocaine and gambling, according to CNBC. In 2004, he founded MyPillow, a bedding company, which propelled him to financial success. In 2019, he published a memoir titled What are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO.
Lindell — whose upbeat infomercials became ubiquitous on television — emerged as an early supporter of President Donald Trump in 2016, attending his election eve watch party. Since then, he’s become one of the president’s staunchest allies, repeatedly echoing his baseless claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent.
He has joined the president at numerous campaign events, participated in multiple White House press briefings and addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an annual gathering of conservatives. Trump also frequently reposts Lindell on Truth Social.
“The uni-party, the deep state globalists and the media tried to completely bury the truth about the 2020 election,” Lindell told a CPAC audience in February. “Four years later, evil has failed.”
Such claims have cost him. In June, a jury ruled that he must pay $2.3 million to Eric Coomer, a former product strategy director at Dominion Voting Systems, which Lindell alleged helped rig the 2020 election in former President Joe Biden’s favor.
Following the news that Lindell filed paperwork to run for governor, some MAGA social media users reacted with glee, with one writing on X, “Maybe he can turn Minnesota around.”
“It takes a BUSINESSMAN under fire like Mike to do the job,” Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers wrote in a post. “No one loves our country more than Mike Lindell!”
But more moderate Republicans worry that choosing Lindell as the party’s nominee could weaken their chances of reclaiming the governor’s mansion, according to the Star Tribune. The state has not elected a GOP governor since 2006, and it hasn’t voted for a Republican president since 1972.
Democrats appear enthusiastic about the possibility of running against a MAGA firebrand.
In September, after Lindell expressed interest in running, Walz wrote on X, “Donald Trump’s pick for Governor of Minnesota? Mike Lindell. Join our campaign and make sure Trump and Lindell never get their hands on Minnesota.”
Minnesota DFL chair Richard Carlbom told the Star Tribune that Lindell “represents exactly what today’s Republican Party has become: conspiratorial, extremist, and weird.”
Spokespeople for Lindell and Walz did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Independent.
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