Dec. 11 (UPI) — Mike Lindell, creator of the MyPillow and a noted conspiracy theorist, has announced he is running for governor of Minnesota.
Lindell is a longtime friend and supporter of President Donald Trump and is known for saying that voting machines in the United States are rigged and can flip elections.
Though he’s lost lawsuits for his election denials, he is still saying that the 2020 election was stolen.
He enters a crowded field of Republicans vying for Gov. Tim Walz’s office, including speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives Lisa Demuth, former state senator and 2022 Republican nominee for governor Scott Jensen, lawyer Chris Madel and state Rep. Kristin Robbins.
Walz’s campaign is already attacking Lindell for his ties to Trump, labeling him “the far-right CEO, election denier, and Donald Trump’s top ally in Minnesota.”
“Mike Lindell is selling conspiracies, MAGA extremism, and pillows. He has no business holding the highest office in our state,” Walz’s campaign said in a fundraising email last week.
Lindell announced his campaign on Thursday, with an eight-minute video filmed on the factory floor of his MyPillow company. He claimed that the President Joe Biden administration “targeted my banks, they targeted my suppliers, they even took my phone.”
He said he wants to stop the “rampant fraud” in Walz’s administration, stop rising property taxes and “the crime that threatens you and your family.” He also wants to change the state’s voting system so that voters submit paper ballots that are then hand-counted.
The fraud Lindell references comes from an investigation of dozens of people who allegedly stole from the state’s program to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several Somali immigrants allegedly created small companies that billed state agencies for millions in social services that never went to the intended people. Walz has said that anyone who stole from the government will be prosecuted.
Trump has responded by ending deportation protections for all Minnesota Somalis.
Lindell told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he told Trump he was thinking of running for governor back in August, but he wouldn’t say what Trump’s response was.
But Trump didn’t back him in his bid for chair of the Republican National Committee in 2023. He only got four votes in that election.
Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani now works for Lindell on his media network, LindellTV, and he’s been giving Lindell political advice.
“He’s been part of many campaigns,” Lindell told the Star Tribune. “He knows what he’s doing.”
LindellTV now has credentials to cover the White House and the Pentagon, The New York Times reported.
Lindell calls his story “the American Dream on steroids,” touting his rise from crack cocaine addiction to successful business owner. He considers himself the frontrunner in the field of candidates and said, “I believe I will stand on my own merit,” Lindell said.
