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mike lindell
Trump-Endorsed MyPillow Founder Mike Lindell Refuses to Concede After Losing Big in GOP Primary
"I'm not going to give up on this race until the votes are counted. That's nonsense!"
Aug 12, 2026
Mike Lindell, the conspiracy-mongering founder of MyPillow, is refusing to concede defeat after being soundly defeated on Tuesday in the Minnesota Republican Party gubernatorial primary.
Although official results show Lindell losing to Minnesota state House Speaker Lisa Demuth by more than 10 percentage points, the President Donald Trump-endorsed pillow magnate on Tuesday night bristled when asked if he would accept defeat if the Associated Press called the race.
"Why would I listen to the AP?" Lindell asked incredulously. "There's 265,000 votes left to count. I'm down by 18,000 now. We just gained 5,000... I'm not going to give up on this race until the votes are counted. That's nonsense!"
The AP would go on to project Demuth as the winner at 11:30 pm ET on Tuesday.
Manic Mike Lindell is ranting and raving that he won’t concede. pic.twitter.com/A67RewLDa3
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 12, 2026
Lindell also told KSTP investigative reporter Kirsten Swanson that there are unspecified "anomalies" in the vote tallies that "his teams will be looking into."
Lindell has a long history of spreading lies about elections.
After Trump lost the 2020 election, Lindell falsely accused Dominion Voting Systems, the company whose voting machines were used in 27 states, of stealing the election for former President Joe Biden.
MS NOW host Joe Scarborough on Wednesday noted that Lindell was deploying the same script in his own race that he used for Trump in 2020.
"He is talking about 'irregularities'... in a Republican primary, just like he talked about 'irregularities' in the 2020 campaign," Scarborough said. "Again, it was in a Republican primary! And he got the stuffing knocked out of him!"
LMAO!
Mika: Lindell is not conceding.
Joe: He is talking about irregularities. Irregularities in a Republican primary. Just like he talked about irregularities in the 2020 election. The only irregularity here is maybe in his bowel movements.
Mika: Oh my God Joe. Stop! pic.twitter.com/ey9L2bKWyn
— Reggie B. (@reggiebblue) August 12, 2026
Trump pointed to Lindell's history of pushing election conspiracy theories as a strength in his July endorsement.
"Nobody has sacrificed more than Mike Lindell in fighting for our country, especially when it comes to Election Integrity," the president wrote in a Truth Social post. "He truly deserves everything he gets. He will MAKE MINNESOTA GREAT AGAIN!!! MIKE LINDELL HAS MY COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT—HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN."
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