Mike Lindell blames voting ‘anomalies’ on primary loss despite losing by 10 points

Ariana BaioWed, August 12, 2026 at 2:33 PM UTC

82

Mike Lindell, the founder of MyPillow, lost the Republican gubernatorial primary in Minnesota, finishing with 32.5 percent of the vote (AFP/Getty)

The Independent and Yahoo will earn a commission from purchases made via links in this article. Pricing and availability are subject to change.

Mike Lindell, an ardent Trump ally and staunch election denier, refused to concede the Republican gubernatorial primary in Minnesota to his opponent Tuesday evening, claiming there may have been “anomalies” in the ballots.

Shortly after the called the Republican primary for Lisa Demuth, Lindell told reporters he wasn’t ready to concede the election to her – despite the margin between the two candidates being more than 10 percentage points.

“We’ve got different teams, right now. I’ve been on the phone with three of them and the one person said, ‘Yes, we’ve seen a couple of anomalies,’” Lindell said.

Lindell, 65, did not elaborate on the so-called “anomalies” in the election and dismissed the margin between himself and Demuth.

“You guys, when I’m favored by nine, three days ago, there’s something you got to look into,” Lindell said, referring to a public poll that indicated Lindell was leading the gubernatorial primary.

The Independent has asked Lindell for comment.

Even before the officially called the Minnesota Republican primary, Lindell passionately ranted to reporters who questioned whether he could make up the growing margin of votes.

“Why would I listen to the AP?” Lindell shouted after a reporter asked if he would concede once the election was called.

“There’s 265,000 votes left to count. I’m down by 18,000 now. We just gained 5,000,” he said. “I’m not going to give up this race until the votes are counted where I can’t win.”

Advertisement

Yet even after the race was called, Lindell questioned the validity of the results.

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.

Trump heavily endorsed Lindell for the Republican nominee in the Minnesota governor’s race and limited public polling indicated he was leading other candidates (AFP/Getty)

Lindell, the founder of MyPillow who recently stepped down as CEO to focus on his campaign, had been heavily endorsed by President Donald Trump in the primary.

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 Tuesday morning by urging Minnesotans to vote for Lindell.

But Lindell, who has a long history of controversies, had not received the same resounding endorsement from the Minnesota Republican Party.

Last month, the Minnesota Republican Party issued a statement raising “electability concerns” about Lindell, specifically pointing to his “serious financial baggage” and “unanswered questions surrounding his running mate.”

The Minnesota Republican Party said public records showed Lindell had “tens of thousands of dollars in delinquent property taxes.”

Lindell, who was born and raised in Minnesota, announced last year that he would run for governor of Minnesota – despite living in Texas at the time. The MyPillow founder confirmed to The Independent last month that he had lived in Texas for over a year but moved back to Minnesota before the primary.

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 Tribuneshowed he registered earlier than Election Day.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Breaking”