Former Republican candidate Mike Lindell is funding a recount of Minnesota‘s gubernatorial primary results after he lost the election to state House Speaker Lisa Demuth last week.
Lindell is known as the MyPillow founder who was endorsed by President Donald Trump ahead of the GOP primary earlier this month. He ended up losing the race by over 11 points to rival Demuth, who will seek to flip the governor’s mansion red as she faces off against Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in November.
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On Tuesday, Lindell announced he would privately fund a statewide recount and audit of every paper ballot cast in the GOP primary election, citing concerns about irregularities in election-night electronic reporting data and electronic voting machine vulnerabilities he suggested could manipulate election outcomes. Among the issues he alleged were vote totals that moved backward during the reporting, unusual synchronized vote totals across all seven Republican candidates, and counties reporting more votes than cast.
“One of the few good election laws Minnesota does have is that as a candidate, I have the right to completely audit and hand count every ballot in the state, and I am going to exercise that right to full extent of the law,” Lindell said in a press release. “Even if this recount and audit does not overturn my election for governor of Minnesota, I believe this is the gateway to getting rid of these electronic voting machines. One hundred and thirty-two countries have banned these machines already. The United States should be setting the standard for elections, instead we are the worst in the world.”
Lindell said the effort marked the largest privately funded statewide paper ballot recount and audit in U.S. history. Lindell claimed the recount would be carried out “with maximum lawful transparency, including designated observers stationed throughout the hand-counting process.”
“With just 6.7% of the vote reported compared to 93.7%, the candidates’ percentages were virtually unchanged. Then there’s this: reported vote totals actually went DOWN,” he reposted on X. “As votes poured in from different parts of Minnesota, why did the percentages remain so remarkably consistent? And why were reported vote totals going backwards?”
Lindell’s efforts come as establishment Republicans in Minnesota have expressed skepticism about the MyPillow founder, including party Chairman Alex Plechash, who has posited that Demuth is “the candidate best positioned to defeat Amy Klobuchar.”
MIKE LINDELL LOST BECAUSE OF IMMIGRATION AMNESTY PROPOSAL DESPITE TRUMP BACKING: STEVE BANNON
Trump ignored critics when he endorsed Lindell as the best pick to replace outgoing Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN). The alliance came after Lindell agreed with Trump that the 2020 election results were rigged against the president in favor of then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
“He truly loves Minnesota, as do I, and wants to bring it back from oblivion and embarrassment,” the president said of Lindell in a July Truth Social post. “He can do it! Nobody has sacrificed more than Mike Lindell in fighting for our country, especially when it comes to Election Integrity.”
