Mike Lindell Loses Minnesota GOP Primary for Governor

Mike Lindell, the MyPillow chief executive and one of President Trump's most vocal allies, lost decisively in Minnesota's Republican primary for governor to Lisa Demuth, the speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Lindell, a well-known election denier, did not concede when the race was called for Demuth. Minnesota has not elected a Republican governor in decades, but the primary was still read as a test of Trump's standing with his own party in the state. Lindell's defeat could be attributed to the weakness of his campaign, but also to signs of softening support for Trump amid low approval ratings.

Demuth became speaker last year in an evenly divided House, the first Black person to hold the post.

The result was one of several Tuesday primaries that cut against expectations. In Wisconsin, the progressive state lawmaker Francesca Hong was narrowly beaten in the Democratic primary for governor by David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, despite polls suggesting she was on course to win. Crowley had exited the race before re-entering it and winning the endorsement of outgoing Gov. Tony Evers. Hong had cast his return as evidence of panic by the Democratic establishment; Crowley said he was "far from" the establishment. The outcome followed a run of primary wins by left-wing candidates, including Abdul El-Sayed's Senate victory in Michigan last week.

In Connecticut's 1st District, former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, 47, ousted Rep. John Larson, 78, who has held the seat since 1999, according to an Associated Press projection. "Voters sent a message that if we are going to fix this mess we're in, we need to build a Democratic Party that's bringing a whole new energy to this fight," Bronin said in a statement.

In Minnesota's Senate primary, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan won decisively after a campaign that pressed Rep. Angie Craig over her vote for the Laken Riley Act, which requires immigration detention for undocumented immigrants accused of local crimes. Craig has since said she regrets the vote. Immigration enforcement dominated the race after Operation Metro Surge, in which the Trump administration sent thousands of immigration officers to the state in early 2026; two residents died and hundreds were deported.