2 GOP candidates for Minnesota governor touch on paid leave, taxes during debate

Two of the three major GOP candidates for Minnesota governor faced off in a debate on Friday night, 11 days before the August primary.

Kendall Qualls, who is endorsed by the Minnesota GOP, faced My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has the endorsement all the candidates wanted: President Trump's. 

House Speaker Lisa Demuth's campaign spokesperson says Demuth had previously scheduled a campaign and district meeting in Stearns County, Minnesota, on Friday night.

TPT's Almanac Show hosted the debate.

Both Qualls and Lindell want the state's new paid leave program to go away.

"The biggest issue facing business owners right now in the metro, as well as Greater Minnesota, is the paid family leave act. It is the biggest issue. The straw that is breaking the camel's back," Qualls said.

Lindell wants the state's income tax to go away. 

"I am looking to eliminate income tax in Minnesota, being the 10th state to do that. Budget will be published this week. And so people can say, 'Everybody wants to cut taxes. I'll cut taxes if you vote for me.' No, I'm actually going to put it out there. Maybe we can have six months. So, I want Minnesota to be [a] no-income-tax state," Lindell said.

Both said they would be a pro-business governor.

"Where Mike and I have violent agreement is that we need someone in this state leading that is outside of politics. It's going to be business-oriented solutions. I just happen to think my business-oriented solutions are better than Mike's," Qualls said.

On immigration, Lindell backed off a program he had proposed for six-month work visas for those who are undocumented.

"Minnesota at least needs to cooperate with the federal government," Lindell said.

He later added, "The employers that are stealing money from it, they're not paying taxes, they are hiring these illegals. It's almost like human trafficking."

Qualls took aim at the Biden administration.

"You bring in 10 million people in the country in that short period of time; they don't come with a budget. The Democrat Party did not give them a budget cause they're eating into the budgets for the people in our state from healthcare, school, social services," Qualls said.

Both laid into the Walz administration for the fraud scandals. When asked if Gov. Tim Walz, the Minnesota Legislature and law enforcement had done enough, Lindell said, "Weren't they in on it? I think Walz has done enough. He needs to go to jail. That's my answer. They haven't done enough."

"They've failed Minnesotans. The fraud that we've had in our state, Medicaid fraud, a litany of it, it's a national embarrassment. And this is an embarrassment of poor leadership and not having accountability," Qualls said.

In a preview of the GOP strategy against leading DFL candidate, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, both said she should also be held responsible for the state's fraud crisis. Polls have shown Klobuchar with a double-digit lead over Demuth, Lindell and Qualls