MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell announces run for Minnesota governor

(CN) — MyPillow CEO and 2020 election denier Mike Lindell announced his 2026 campaign for Minnesota governor on Thursday, challenging incumbent Governor Tim Walz.

Lindell, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, will run as a Republican among others in consideration to challenge Walz’s hopes for a third consecutive term as Minnesota’s governor after his stint as vice-presidential nominee failed.

Lindell made his announcement from the factory floor of MyPillow in Chaska, Minnesota. In his launch speech, he leaned heavily on his personal journey from addiction to recovery and framed his run as a “public service calling.”

Lindell’s campaign website, launched in accordance with the announcement, promises to stand against the “rampant fraud under Governor Walz.” His stated priorities are to fix failing school systems and empower parents, stop exploding property taxes and excessive fees, address addiction and public safety and send back immigrants without legal status.

The MyPillow CEO vowed to crack down on fraud in state programs and argued that Walz’s administration has shown negligence and incompetence that has cost taxpayers billions. Lindell is positioning himself as a “hands-on executive who solves problems,” in contrast to Walz.

Walz made his opinion clear on Lindell’s announcement on Thursday.

“We’ve seen what happens when we elect a con man to the highest office in America,” he said in a post on X. “We can’t let it happen here in Minnesota.”

Lindell’s national profile — stemming from his close allyship with Trump, for whom he co-chaired the Minnesota campaign in the 2016 election, and his high-profile legal battles over election claims — likely makes him the most well-known Republican running in a crowded field. He joins House Speaker Lisa Demuth, 2022 gubernatorial nominee Scott Jensen, Minneapolis attorney Chris Madel and business executive Kendall Qualls in the fight for the GOP nomination to challenge Walz.

Lindell’s announcement comes months after he found himself on the losing end of a $2.3 million defamation case. Lindell falsely accused Eric Coomer, a former security and product strategy director at Dominion Voting Systems, of helping to rig the 2020 presidential election. After the ruling, Lindell vowed to continue speaking out against voting machines until American elections return to hand-counted paper ballots.

Following the June decision, a federal judge in Minnesota ruled in September that Lindell defamed Smartmatic with 51 false statements that its voting machines helped rig the 2020 presidential election. As a result of legal battles, MyPillow has lost major retail partners, and reports suggest Lindell is $10 million in debt.

Lindell continues to claim the 2020 election was stolen and said to media that Dominion and Smartmatic are “criminal enterprises.” His campaign website backs his commitment to “making people aware of the fraud in our elections” and that he remains standing despite attempts to “tear him down” and “take away his voice.”

It will be an uphill battle for Lindell. It’s been over 19 years since a Republican won the Minnesota governor election. However, Walz’s pursuit of an unprecedented third consecutive term, a feat no Minnesota governor has ever accomplished, could prove to be a hurdle for the incumbent.