On Sept. 26, entrepreneur Mike Lindell proposed the idea of entering the 2026 gubernatorial race against incumbent MN Governor, Tim Walz. While Lindell eventually decided to not run for Minnesota governor in 2022, due to his lack of a developed campaign, in a September interview with the Star Tribune, he said his decision to run was “99 percent there.”
Lindell has become increasingly politically involved in recent years but started as an entrepreneur creating products such as MyPillow and developing a storefront for American goods known as MyStore.
Lindell became more of a household Republican and conservative name as MyPillow paid over $19,000,000 in advertisement fees in 2022 to conservative news outlet Fox News.
Lindell’s campaign for governor has been brewing for years, starting in 2020 with his political collaboration with Donald Trump. In 2020, Lindell was appointed the chair of the Trump campaign in Minnesota and posted an Instagram photo with Trump, captioning it “We will make Minnesota great again!”
“He may be the next governor,” Trump said at a 2020 Bemidji rally. “[He] should run. He has my complete and total endorsement.”
During this collaboration, Trump and members of the Republican Governor’s Association encouraged him to run in the 2022 gubernatorial race.
For his potential 2026 campaign, Lindell said his platform would consist of “secure elections” and “common sense” in the aforementioned Star Tribune interview. Lindell has criticized the 2020 presidential election numerous times and was found guilty of defamation against Dominion Voting Systems for claiming the election was “stolen” by hackers. He specifically wants to change the method of voting in Minnesota, opting against electronic voting machines.
After the Star Tribune interviewed Lindell on Sept. 26, Walz issued a statement against Lindell’s theoretical campaign.
“Mike Lindell is selling conspiracies, MAGA extremism, and pillows,” Walz said.
Information accurate as of Oct. 27
This piece was originally published in Zephyrus’ print edition on Nov. 6, 2025
