Daijiworld Media Network - Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Aug 30: MyPillow founder Mike Lindell’s attempt to challenge his defeat in the Republican primary for Minnesota governor suffered a major setback after the Minnesota Supreme Court on Saturday rejected his request for a full recount of the August 11 election.
Lindell, a prominent supporter of US President Donald Trump who has repeatedly questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election, lost the Republican primary to Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth by about 45,000 votes.
The state Supreme Court’s decision effectively upholds Demuth’s victory and her position as the Republican nominee for governor in the November general election, where she is set to face Democratic nominee and US Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Chief Justice Natalie E Hudson, writing the six-page ruling, rejected Lindell’s argument that state election officials had improperly designed the recount process.
The court found that the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office and the State Canvassing Board had followed the law and were not committing the “wrongful act, omission, or error” alleged by Lindell.
Lindell told NBC News on Saturday evening that he intends to appeal the ruling to the US Supreme Court. He also said his team would seek election data from all 87 Minnesota counties through Freedom of Information Act requests to conduct what he described as an independent investigation.
“I’m willing to pay even more money. I don’t care what it costs,” Lindell said.
Lindell had initially agreed to pay an estimated $825,000 for a full hand recount and audit of the Republican gubernatorial primary. However, he later refused to make the payment after objecting to the terms of the recount proposed by state officials.
The recount plan approved by the State Canvassing Board on August 18 would separate the ballots cast in the Republican primary into three groups — ballots for Lindell, ballots for Demuth and ballots for all other Republican candidates.
Lindell argued that the arrangement amounted to a “bait-and-switch” because he wanted every ballot in the seven-candidate Republican field to be individually counted. He also sought a broader recount covering both the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial primaries.
The Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office maintained that the proposed recount complied with state law and established administrative rules and was consistent with previous recount procedures.
Justice Hudson rejected Lindell’s argument that a manual recount should be used to investigate alleged voting anomalies.
“Lindell’s focus on alleged anomalies confuses the purpose of a manual recount with an election contest,” Hudson wrote.
The court noted that all ballots would nevertheless be sorted and counted during the recount. Republican ballots would be separated into piles for Lindell, Demuth and all other candidates, allowing the result between the two leading candidates to be determined.
The ruling also noted that all ballots would remain subject to challenges during the recount.
Lindell had argued that electronic voting machines could have produced irregularities and that a broader hand count was necessary to investigate his concerns.
He had previously announced that he was prepared to spend approximately $825,000 to conduct a statewide hand recount and audit after losing the primary by more than 45,000 votes. Because his margin of defeat was far greater than the threshold for an automatic state-funded recount, Lindell would have been required to pay for the recount himself.
However, Lindell stopped payment after disputing the recount conditions. The state subsequently said that no recount would proceed because it had not received the required payment by the August 24 deadline.
The dispute then moved to the courts, with Lindell asking the Minnesota Supreme Court to intervene and prevent the proposed recount procedure from going ahead.
The court’s Saturday ruling rejected that request.
Demuth received 179,683 votes in the Republican primary, compared with 134,282 for Lindell, according to results cited by Minnesota media. The approximately 45,000-vote difference represented a margin of about 11 percentage points.
Lindell’s challenge comes against the backdrop of his long-running claims questioning the integrity of US elections.
Before launching his Minnesota gubernatorial campaign, Lindell became one of Trump’s most prominent allies in promoting false claims that voting machines had been used to rig the 2020 presidential election. Those claims resulted in multiple defamation lawsuits involving voting technology companies.
In June 2025, a jury found Lindell liable for defaming a former employee of Dominion Voting Systems. Lindell has denied wrongdoing.
He has also faced litigation involving Smartmatic USA Corp and was ordered to pay sanctions in that case. Lindell has continued to dispute the allegations and said he would not pay the sanctions and related legal costs.
Trump had endorsed Lindell in the Minnesota Republican gubernatorial primary, but Demuth ultimately defeated him by a substantial margin.
Despite Saturday’s Supreme Court ruling, Lindell has continued to insist that he will pursue additional legal and investigative avenues.
His planned appeal to the US Supreme Court, along with his stated intention to obtain election data from Minnesota’s 87 counties, means the dispute over the Republican primary could continue even though state officials have certified Demuth’s victory.
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruling, however, leaves Demuth in a strong position as the Republican candidate for governor heading into the general election against Klobuchar.