# Minnesota Governor 2026 > [!success] PRIMARY RESULT — August 11, 2026 > **DFL: [[Amy Klobuchar]] wins, 89.7%** (615,041 votes) against nominal opposition; AP called it within about 30 minutes of polls closing. > **GOP: [[Lisa Demuth]] wins, 43.4%** (179,683) — def. Trump-endorsed [[Mike Lindell]] 32.5% (134,282) and convention-endorsed [[Kendall Qualls]] 21.4% (88,416). Margin ≈45,000 votes. > **General election (Nov 3, 2026): Amy Klobuchar (DFL) vs. Lisa Demuth (R).** Minnesota will elect its first woman governor either way. Cook: **Solid D**. > > Lindell refused to concede, sought a full hand recount of all ~1.1 million ballots, and was turned down by the Minnesota Supreme Court on **August 29, 2026**. He vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. As of 2026-09-27 no filing has been confirmed. ## Snapshot This is an open seat, but **not because of term limits** (Minnesota doesn't have them for governor). Incumbent [[Tim Walz]] was running for a third term and **dropped out on January 5, 2026** amid the state social-services fraud scandal, saying he "can't give a political campaign my all" while dealing with it. Senator [[Amy Klobuchar]] entered, locked down the DFL's May 30 convention endorsement, and won the primary with almost 90%. Cook moved the race from Likely D to **Solid D on February 17, 2026**. The Republican primary is the part that matters for this vault. **Every institutional signal pointed away from the eventual winner, and every one failed.** The state party's convention endorsed Kendall Qualls after 10 ballots. [[Donald Trump]] endorsed Mike Lindell in July. House Speaker Lisa Demuth had pledged in February to "seek and abide by" the endorsement, stayed in anyway citing convention irregularities, and won by 11 points with support from mainstream Republicans and major donors. ## Incumbent (withdrew) - **[[Tim Walz]]** (DFL): governor since January 2019, 2024 Democratic VP nominee. Announced a third-term bid in September 2025 and abandoned it on January 5, 2026. He is serving out the term. See his page for the fraud-scandal background: Feeding Our Future, autism services, housing stabilization, and the federal child-care funding pause. ## DFL primary (August 11, 2026): RESOLVED | Candidate | Share | Votes | Result | |---|---|---|---| | Amy Klobuchar | 89.7% | 615,041 | **WON** | | Kobey Layne | 5.8% | 39,528 | — | | Mohammad Wazwaz | 1.4% | 9,633 | — | | Po Vang | 1.3% | 8,834 | — | | Ole Savior | 0.8% | 5,491 | — | | Tom Evenstad | 0.6% | 3,843 | — | | Bill Gates Jr. | 0.5% | 3,380 | — | - **Amy Klobuchar**: U.S. Senator since 2007 and former Hennepin County attorney. She's the first woman the DFL has nominated for governor. Her running mate is **Ben Schierer**, former mayor of Fergus Falls (2017–2025). ## Republican primary (August 11, 2026): RESOLVED | Candidate | Share | Votes | Signal they carried | Result | |---|---|---|---|---| | Lisa Demuth | 43.4% | 179,683 | donor class / mainstream GOP | **WON** | | Mike Lindell | 32.5% | 134,282 | **Trump endorsement (July)** | refused to concede; recount bid denied | | Kendall Qualls | 21.4% | 88,416 | **state party convention endorsement** | conceded | | John Krhin | 1.1% | 4,663 | — | — | | Ross Nova | 0.7% | 2,760 | — | — | | Raul Estrada | 0.6% | 2,408 | — | — | | Loner Blue | 0.3% | 1,393 | — | — | - **[[Lisa Demuth]]**: Speaker of the Minnesota House since February 2025 (the 67–67 tied House). Represents District 13A (Cold Spring/St. Joseph, Stearns County) and was first elected in 2018. She's the first Republican woman nominated for governor in Minnesota and the first Black major-party nominee for the office. Her running mate is attorney **Ryan Wilson**. - **[[Mike Lindell]]**: MyPillow CEO and the most prominent self-funded promoter of 2020 election-fraud claims. Trump endorsed him in July, and he still finished second by about 45,000 votes. - **[[Kendall Qualls]]**: businessman. He won the state party's endorsement after 10 rounds of convention voting, finished a distant third, and conceded to Demuth. ### The Lindell recount saga 1. **Primary night**: Lindell refused to concede. "I'm down by 18,000 now. I'm not going to give up this race until the votes are counted" (Time, Aug 12). He alleged irregularities but offered no specific evidence. 2. **Recount demand**: He asked for all ~1.1 million governor's-race ballots, across every candidate, to be hand-counted, rather than the statutory Demuth-vs-Lindell comparison. He **missed the deadline to formally request and pay for** a recount and sued election officials instead. 3. **August 29, 2026**: The Minnesota Supreme Court (Chief Justice Natalie Hudson) denied the bid. It found his claims "without merit" and the state-approved recount plan "within the law." 4. **Next**: Lindell vowed to go to the U.S. Supreme Court. No filing is confirmed in this page's sources as of 2026-09-27. This is Lindell's 2020 playbook turned on his own party's primary: allege fraud, demand a total hand recount, refuse the bounded statutory remedy, lose in court, escalate. ## General election (November 3, 2026) **[[Amy Klobuchar]] (DFL) vs. [[Lisa Demuth]] (R).** Cook: Solid D. - **Klobuchar's frame**: "We need a governor who is going to put Minnesotans first — not be a rubber stamp for Donald Trump or anyone else." - **Demuth's frame**: she casts Klobuchar as the establishment ("She's been running for office for more than 30 years") and runs on fraud, taxes, affordability, and public safety. She has proposed a nonpartisan state Office of Inspector General to investigate fraud. She opposes abortion and has supported fetal-heartbeat legislation. - **Polling**: Klobuchar 51, Demuth 36 (Aug 13–17). Earlier: 48–40 (June) and 49–34 (February). *These come from the Wikipedia polling table; the pollsters aren't captured here.* - **Minor parties**: a **Steve (Steven) Young** is on the ballot, but sources disagree on his party (Libertarian per Wikipedia, Green per MPR). *Unresolved; verify against the Minnesota Secretary of State before citing.* ## Money - **Klobuchar**: raised $12.5M+ since late January, spent about $9M, and had $3.5M+ cash on hand (Minnesota Reformer, Sept 23). - **Demuth**: raised about $2.6M, about half of it from a **$1.3M public subsidy** payment. - **Restore Sanity** (outside PAC supporting Demuth): **$14.1M raised**, more than **$13M of it from [[Restoration of America]]**, the PAC funded by [[Richard Uihlein]] and Liz Uihlein. $10M of that arrived in the four weeks before Sept 23. CBS had reported $2.8M in Uihlein-linked money as of Sept 7. Demuth: "there is no coordination whatsoever." - **Takeaway**: outside money is doing what Demuth's campaign can't. One Wisconsin donor couple has funded most of the Republican side of the race. ## Ratings - Cook: **Solid D** (moved from Likely D on 2026-02-17 after Klobuchar entered) - Sabato: Safe D · Inside Elections: Likely D *(both from the Wikipedia ratings table and not checked against the outlets)* - The [[2026 Governor Races Hub]] carried "Likely D per Cook" until 2026-09-27. That was stale. ## Key dates - 2025-09: Walz announces third-term bid - 2025-11: Demuth names Ryan Wilson as running mate - 2026-01-05: **Walz drops out** - 2026-01-08: Cook flags a potential **2027 special election** for Klobuchar's Senate seat if she wins (vacancy mechanics not yet verified in the vault) - 2026-02-17: Cook moves the race to Solid D - 2026-05: GOP convention endorses **Qualls** (10 ballots); Demuth stays in - 2026-05-30: DFL convention endorses **Klobuchar** / Schierer - 2026-07: **Trump endorses Lindell** - 2026-08-11: primaries. **Klobuchar and Demuth nominated** ✅ - 2026-08-29: MN Supreme Court denies Lindell's recount bid - 2026-11-03: general election ## Intel notes - **All three GOP gatekeepers failed at once.** The convention (Qualls) and Trump (Lindell) both lost to the candidate with donor and establishment backing. Compare [[MN-Sen-2026]] the same night, where the GOP convention endorsee (Adam Schwarze) also lost. **Minnesota's Republican convention went 0-for-2 statewide on August 11.** - **A Trump endorsement lost a Republican primary outright.** File this with the other 2026 races where Trump's pick underperformed. The mitigating factor is that the endorsed candidate was Lindell, who carries unusual baggage. - **Election denial came back to hit its own side.** Lindell used the full Stop the Steal procedure against a fellow Republican, and a state supreme court rejected it. That's useful evidence that the method never depended on a Democratic opponent. - **The fraud scandal decided who was on the ballot, and it's the Republican's case in November.** Walz's withdrawal is why this is an open seat. Demuth is running on fraud and an Inspector General proposal, the same governance-competence line [[Michele Tafoya]] is running against [[Peggy Flanagan]] in the Senate race. - **Uihlein money is carrying the Republican side.** A Wisconsin megadonor couple has put more than $13M into a Minnesota governor's race through a pass-through PAC, about five times Demuth's own campaign. Track this with the Uihlein state-level pattern. - **Knock-on Senate vacancy.** A Klobuchar win opens her Senate seat (term runs through January 2031). That could mean a 2027 special election and an appointed senator in between. Build this out once the mechanics are verified. ## Related KB entities - [[Amy Klobuchar]]: DFL nominee - [[Lisa Demuth]]: Republican nominee - [[Tim Walz]]: withdrawn incumbent - [[Mike Lindell]]: Trump-endorsed, lost the primary, recount bid denied - [[Kendall Qualls]]: convention-endorsed, finished third - [[Richard Uihlein]] · [[Restoration of America]]: outside money behind Restore Sanity - [[MN-Sen-2026]] · [[MN-02-2026]]: same-ballot Minnesota races - [[2026 Governor Races Hub]] · [[2026 Midterms Hub]] ## Content leads - **Blog**: "Three Gatekeepers, Zero Wins": convention, Trump, and the donor class in the Minnesota GOP primary - **Blog**: "Stop the Steal, Friendly Fire": Lindell's recount bid as the 2020 playbook turned on a fellow Republican - **[[YouTube]]**: how a fraud scandal ended a governor's career and set the terms of the race to replace him - **Data**: Uihlein-network spending in 2026 state races (Restore Sanity as the Minnesota case) ## Sources - [Wikipedia — 2026 Minnesota gubernatorial election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Minnesota_gubernatorial_election) - [MPR News — Klobuchar will face Demuth (Aug 11, 2026)](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/08/11/amy-klobuchar-kendall-qualls-lisa-demuth-mike-lindell-seek-nods-in-minnesota-governors-race) - [Minnesota Reformer — Demuth beats Trump-endorsed Lindell (Aug 11, 2026)](https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/08/11/lisa-demuth-beats-trump-endorsed-mike-lindell-in-gop-primary-for-minnesota-governor/) - [CBS Minnesota — Demuth tops Lindell](https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/lisa-demuth-minnesota-republican-governor-primary-projected-winner/) - [Time — Lindell won't concede (Aug 12, 2026)](https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/minnesota-governor-republican-primary-election-result-demuth-lindell-qualls/) - [MPR News — Lindell recount bid denied by Minnesota Supreme Court (Aug 29, 2026)](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/08/29/mike-lindell-recount-bid-in-gop-governor-primary-loss-denied-by-minnesotas-highest-court) - [NBC News — Minnesota Supreme Court rejects Lindell recount bid](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/minnesota-supreme-court-rejects-mike-lindells-bid-recount-gop-gubernat-rcna595080) - [NBC News — Lindell refuses to pay for recount, sues officials](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/mike-lindell-refuses-pay-recount-minnesota-gop-primary-files-lawsuit-rcna594395) - [NOTUS — Lindell vows U.S. Supreme Court appeal](https://www.notus.org/2026-election/mike-lindell-appeal-supreme-court-recount) - [NPR — Walz drops out of governor's race (Jan 6, 2026)](https://www.npr.org/2026/01/06/nx-s1-5667284/minnesota-gov-tim-walz-drops-out-of-gubernatorial-race) - [CNN — Walz ends reelection bid (Jan 5, 2026)](https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/05/politics/tim-walz-minnesota-reelection) - [Cook Political Report — Klobuchar puts MN governor in Solid D (Feb 17, 2026)](https://www.cookpolitical.com/analysis/governors/minnesota-governor/klobuchar-puts-minnesota-governor-solid-democrat-column) - [Cook Political Report — Walz withdrawal and potential 2027 special (Jan 8, 2026)](https://www.cookpolitical.com/analysis/governors/minnesota-governor/walz-withdrawal-makes-way-klobuchar-minnesota-and-potential) - [CBS Minnesota — Demuth defends $2.8M outside PAC funding (Sept 7, 2026)](https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/lisa-demuth-governor-race-state-fair/) - [Minnesota Reformer — Demuth-affiliated PAC receives $10M infusion (Sept 23, 2026)](https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/09/23/demuth-affiliated-political-action-committee-receives-10-million-infusion/) - [Wikipedia — Lisa Demuth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Demuth)