Trump stops short of endorsing MyPillow's Mike Lindell for Minnesota governor despite saying he deserves the job
Mike Lindell is leading the Republican field in Minnesota's gubernatorial primary, according to a new poll, as the MyPillow CEO campaigns on election integrity but also attempts to highlight policy differences from President Trump.
A Survey USA/KSTP poll shows Lindell at 27% support among GOP primary voters, ahead of House Speaker Lisa Demuth at 22% and businessman Kendall Qualls at 17%. Beyond that, 24% of voters remain undecided. Early voting is underway ahead of the Aug. 11 primary.
Lindell said he called Trump before entering the race and asked for his endorsement. Trump has stopped short of endorsing him but said in December that Lindell "deserves" to be governor of Minnesota.
"He was the first one I called after my wife, and we decided to run, and I called him up. I said I'm gonna run, and I said I wanted him to endorse me," Lindell said.
Lindell's public support for Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen came at a significant cost. Dominion Voting Systems sued him for $1.3 billion over those claims. That lawsuit ended in a confidential settlement. He has also had to close MyPillow stores and warehouses.
Lindell said his company remains strong despite the setbacks.
"My Pillow is the strongest it's ever been in five years. It's smaller because, obviously, they killed box stores, got cancelled," he said.
His top campaign priority is eliminating voting machines in Minnesota and across the country in favor of hand counts and paper ballots.
"Those voting machines need to go. They need to be melted down ... and turned into prison bars," Lindell said.
When WCCO's Esme Murphy pressed him on whether he is too focused on election fraud claims — noting that evidence shows no significant fraud exists in U.S. elections — Lindell directed her to his website. Murphy visited the site and found ads and articles, but no proof of machine failures.
On immigration, Lindell breaks with the Trump administration's approach. He said he wants to create what he calls "conditional non-resident visas" for undocumented immigrants who have not committed crimes, starting in Minnesota, and said he plans to discuss the idea with Mr. Trump.
"You have illegals that are here, illegal immigrants, that are good people. They've never committed a crime, OK? I want to make conditional non-resident visas, and this would be – I'm going to actually talk to the president about this – but I want me to start with Minnesota. These conditional non-resident visas, you would have six months," Lindell said.
The winner of the Republican primary will face the DFL nominee in November.
