Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder and election conspiracy theorist who lost the Republican Minnesota governor’s primary race, has missed the deadline to post funds for the recount that he demanded. Lindell, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, lost the gubernatorial GOP primary to Speaker of the Minnesota House, Lisa Demuth, by about 45,000 votes on August 11 and refused to concede on election night. He has since claimed “major deviations and anomalies on election night,” despite a lack of evidence.
He then launched a fundraising drive to come up with the money to cover the cost of a recount, which must take place within five days of the canvass of a primary election, per Minnesota law, asking his supporters to donate. Despite claiming to have the $825,000 “primed and ready” to meet Monday night’s deadline, Lindell’s team said he was asking Minnesota to waive the deadline and claimed the parameters of the recount proposed by state officials were an “unlawful bait and switch.” The campaign disputed the state’s plan for a recount on the grounds that it would only recount votes received for Lindell and Demuth, as opposed to all of the candidates. Cassondra Knudson, spokesperson for Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, said a contingent plan recount was presented to Lindell after it was approved by the State Canvassing Board on August 18.
Lindell’s team said the MAGA businessman was launching “immediate legal action” in response. Minnesota Republicans previously questioned Lindell’s eligibility to run. Lindell, a Minnesota native, who stepped down as CEO of his pillow enterprise to run for governor, and had been living in Texas before he returned to the North Star State in 2025.
Despite launching his campaign for Minnesota governor, Lindell also was not registered to vote in the state until late July. Lindell had said he planned to register on the day he voted, which is allowed in Minnesota. But ultimately, records obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune showed he registered earlier than Election Day.
Lindell was a prominent voice in pushing the president’s false claims of widespread election fraud after he lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden. His perpetuation that the election was rigged led to defamation lawsuits from Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, manufacturers of voting machines. Dominion Voting Systems settled its lawsuit with Lindell, but separately, Lindell was ordered to pay $2.3 million in damages to a former Dominion employee.
In July, Trump endorsed Lindell on Truth Social, calling him “SPECTACULAR” and claiming “he deserves everything he gets.” In another July post, the president insisted Lindell would be a “GREAT” governor. Trump even tried to give Lindell a last-minute push on election day morning by urging Minnesotans to vote for Lindell, which ultimately failed. The president has since blamed his endorsement losses on his feeling “obligated” to go with the candidates.
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