Minnesota Republicans have chosen state House Speaker Lisa Demuth as their nominee for governor, projecting a major upset in the party’s primary by defeating Trump-backed Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder and a prominent figure in election-conspiracy circles. NBC News projected the outcome, setting up a November matchup against Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
The result gives Demuth a direct path to contend for statewide power after a nomination battle that quickly became a referendum on the direction of the GOP. Demuth, a longtime legislative leader in St. Paul, overcame an opponent with strong national visibility and direct backing from President Donald Trump, whose endorsement helped elevate Lindell’s bid and inject a heightened, celebrity-driven dynamic into what otherwise is typically a more policy-focused nomination fight.
According to the reporting cited by NBC News, Demuth’s victory was not only about winning a vote—it was about overcoming momentum Lindell held in limited public polling before Election Day. The primary contest, NBC News reported, featured Lindell leading in that small set of measures heading into the day of balloting. In the end, Demuth flipped the race, preventing the party from coalescing around Trump’s choice.
Fox News described the loss as a show of strength for Demuth, highlighting her persistence in the race even after she lost the Republican Party endorsement at the state convention to another candidate, Kendall Qualls. That endorsement was reportedly secured after 10 ballots, but Demuth argued that her legislative experience and her record leading House Republicans made her the strongest candidate for the general election. When she ultimately won the gubernatorial primary, she demonstrated that losing early signals within the party did not translate into losing electoral support.
The contest also underscored how unusual the nomination field became. Multiple sources preceding Election Day had pointed to a competitive GOP landscape featuring several prominent figures. Among the leading aspirants were Lindell, Demuth, and Qualls, with other challengers also on the ballot. Sahan Journal’s election preview described the race as competitive and noted that if Republicans selected either Demuth or Qualls, it could have represented a historic milestone—reflecting that no candidate of color had ever won a gubernatorial primary in Minnesota.
Demuth’s path to the nomination therefore carried two intertwined storylines: a high-profile rejection of a Trump-endorsed figure and an assertion of a legislative veteran’s appeal. Lindell, by contrast, brought a national brand and the clout of Trump’s support, but NBC News characterized him as an election conspiracy theorist, a framing that matched the broader scrutiny Lindell has faced over the years for promoting claims about voting systems.
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill’s reporting also described Demuth as projected to prevail, with The Hill noting that Trump came up short with Lindell in the Minnesota gubernatorial primary. Together with NBC’s projection, the coverage suggests a rare moment in which the dynamics of national endorsements did not carry the day inside Minnesota’s GOP primary electorate.
While the Republican primary concluded with Demuth advancing, the general election matchup appears likely to be a steep challenge given the state’s recent electoral history. Fox News noted that no Republican had won a statewide election in Minnesota since 2006 and that the party had lost 28 consecutive statewide contests through the 2024 election, marking an 18-year drought and the longest such streak for either major party in Minnesota’s history. That backdrop raises the stakes for Demuth, whose nomination arrives at a moment when Minnesota Republicans are striving to end a long-running pattern of statewide defeats.
On the Democratic side, the stage is set for incumbent political strength. NBC News projected Demuth’s opponent in November as Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, while describing Klobuchar as having romped in her own primary. The juxtaposition—Klobuchar winning decisively while Republicans settled on an upset—creates a November contrast: Democrats consolidating quickly behind a familiar statewide figure, Republicans choosing a nominee after an outcome that broke expectations.
For Demuth, the general election campaign will likely revolve around turning her legislative résumé into a broader argument for statewide leadership—one that can withstand the national attention that Lindell brought into the contest. Fox News’s description of Demuth staying in the race and making her case to GOP voters after losing the convention endorsement suggests an ability to navigate intra-party divisions and reframe setbacks into momentum.
For Lindell, the outcome marks a setback for a bid that relied heavily on Trump’s endorsement and Lindell’s built-in name recognition. The NBC reporting that Lindell had been leading in limited public polling suggests that the race was competitive close-up, but that the final vote broke against him on the issue of who best represents the GOP in Minnesota going forward.
As Minnesota’s election season moves into the general-election phase, the key question becomes whether Demuth can convert a primary upset into a statewide breakthrough after years of GOP losses. Against Klobuchar, the campaign will likely focus on both leadership contrasts and party identity—particularly whether Minnesota Republicans can maintain the energy of the primary upset long enough to overcome the state’s Democratic lean.
With Demuth as the nominee, Minnesota voters will now turn from the internal GOP question of who should carry the party’s standard to the broader election question of who should lead the state—pitting a legislative speaker who proved resilient under pressure against a senator whose primary success signaled durable support. The November race will test whether Minnesota Republicans can finally interrupt their statewide drought with the coalition they assembled in the wake of Lindell’s defeat.
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