“My Pillow Guy” Mike Lindell says he’s considering entering the race for Minnesota governor, in what would be a challenge to incumbent and former vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.
The 64-year-old entrepreneur has been living in Texas, but plans to reestablish residency in his home state as he looks forward to Minnesota’s 2026 election. He told the Minnesota Star Tribune he has “99%” of the pieces in place to mount a campaign.
“I love the state, I love the country and if I’m the only one that can win, that would be a shame if that opportunity slipped by,” Lindell said.
Walz appeared dismissive of the challenge on social media.
“Donald Trump’s pick for Governor of Minnesota? Mike Lindell,” he wrote, following it up with a call for donations to his campaign to “make sure Trump and Lindell never get their hands on Minnesota.”
Lindell told his hometown paper that he and Trump haven’t discussed him running against Walz, but said they’ve been in contact about making elections more secure. It’s long been Lindell’s suspicion that the 2020 presidential election was somehow rigged against Trump, though he’s presented no credible evidence to support that repeatedly debunked theory.
The beddings salesman claimed during a defamation trial that he’s $10 million in debt and still faces legal challenges linked to his attempts to find fraud following the outcome of that race.
He told the Star Tribune he needs to further explore how campaign finance rules could affect his business before he commits to throwing his hat in the ring next fall.
Walz announced earlier this month that he’ll seek a third term in office, which would make him the longest serving governor Minnesota has ever had.