Demuth’s victory sends her to a general-election contest against Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar. The result also adds Minnesota to the list of Republican primaries where a Trump-backed candidate did not prevail.
Mike Lindell lost the Republican primary for Minnesota governor, with Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth defeating him despite President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Lindell. Updated election results reported by the Associated Press show Demuth won the GOP nomination and will face Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the fall.
The result matters beyond one unusually visible primary. Lindell, the MyPillow founder and a prominent promoter of false claims about the 2020 election, entered as Trump’s preferred candidate. Demuth prevailed with a message centered more on her legislative experience and ability to work in a closely divided state House.
Demuth wins a three-way contest
NPR reported that Demuth received 43.4% of the Republican primary vote, or 179,573 votes. Lindell finished second with 32.5%, or 134,202 votes, while businessman Kendall Qualls received 21.4%, or 88,350 votes.
The Associated Press called the race for Demuth, according to both NPR and The Washington Post. The margin gave Demuth a clear win in a field that included candidates with distinct bases of support inside Minnesota’s Republican Party.
Qualls had received the Minnesota Republican Party’s endorsement before the primary, while Trump later backed Lindell. Demuth did not have either of those advantages, but she brought a substantial statewide political profile as speaker of the Minnesota House.
Trump endorsement did not decide it
Trump endorsed Lindell during the campaign’s final stretch, elevating a candidate whose national identity is closely tied to the former president. Lindell has been among the most outspoken supporters of Trump’s false assertion that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
That endorsement made the Minnesota race a test of whether Trump’s support could overcome the advantages of an experienced state officeholder. It did not.
The result should not be read as proof that a Trump endorsement has little value in Republican primaries. It remains a major signal to many GOP voters and donors. But Minnesota illustrates a recurring complication: endorsements can shape a contest without erasing voters’ interest in local records, campaign organization and perceived general-election strength.
The Washington Post noted that Trump-backed candidates had also fallen short in gubernatorial primaries in Iowa and Georgia this year. Demuth’s win adds another example of a state-level race where the president’s preferred candidate was not the nominee.
A speaker with a governing record
Demuth is Minnesota’s highest-ranking Republican elected official. As House speaker, she has led a chamber divided almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats, an experience that allowed her to present herself as a candidate familiar with negotiation as well as partisan conflict.
Her campaign emphasized working across the aisle, according to NPR. That posture can be politically useful in Minnesota, where statewide elections often turn on suburban and independent voters as well as each party’s core supporters.
Supporters can point to Demuth’s legislative leadership as evidence that she understands the mechanics of state government. Skeptics may argue that her time in a narrowly divided House could make it harder to draw sharp contrasts with Democrats. The general election will show whether her governing experience becomes an asset with a broader electorate.
Klobuchar now awaits in November
On the Democratic side, Klobuchar won her party’s nomination decisively. NPR reported that she took 89.7% of the vote, with 614,467 votes.
The Senate Democrat is a well-known statewide figure whose 2020 presidential campaign raised her national profile. The Washington Post described her as heavily favored heading into the general election, though campaigns can shift as nominees define one another and voters focus on state issues.
The contest is for an open governorship. Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, chose not to seek reelection after a period in which a major welfare-fraud scandal became a central political issue in the state, according to The Washington Post.
Demuth will try to make the race a case for Republican control after years of Democratic leadership. Klobuchar will seek to use her name recognition and long record winning statewide elections to argue for continuity and competence. A Republican has not won Minnesota’s governorship since Tim Pawlenty, who served from 2003 through 2011.
The primary reshapes the GOP case
Lindell’s loss removes from the general-election ballot a candidate whose public profile was dominated by national election-conspiracy politics and his close association with Trump. That could change the tone of the Republican campaign.
Demuth still faces hard choices. She must retain voters drawn to Lindell and Trump while making a broader appeal in a state where Republicans have struggled in recent statewide races. Her House leadership provides a potentially different message: practical experience in a divided government rather than celebrity and confrontation.
Questions remain about how closely Trump will involve himself in the Minnesota general election, whether Lindell will quickly unify behind Demuth, and how much the state party’s earlier support for Qualls exposed lasting divisions. The primary result settled the nomination, not those tensions.
What Minnesota voters learned
The immediate outcome is clear: Lisa Demuth is the Republican nominee for Minnesota governor, and Mike Lindell’s Trump-backed campaign is over. The vote demonstrated that a prominent endorsement and national notoriety were not enough to defeat a state leader with a conventional governing résumé.
The larger verdict will come in November. Demuth now has the task of turning a coalition that beat Lindell and Qualls in a Republican primary into one capable of challenging Klobuchar across Minnesota.
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