Picture this: a guy who once lost everything to addiction, clawed his way back, built a household-name company from nothing, then spent years in the national spotlight yelling about election fraud from every rooftop he could find. Now that same guy wants to be governor of Minnesota.
If 2025 has taught us anything, it’s that normal is officially dead in American politics. And Mike Lindell’s announcement yesterday that he’s running for governor in 2026 might just be the clearest proof yet.
From Crack House to State House: The Mike Lindell Story Nobody Saw Coming
Let’s be honest most people know Lindell as the “MyPillow Guy” the energetic infomercial king with the mustache who became one of Donald Trump’s loudest and most loyal defenders after 2020. But long before the pillows, before the private jet, before the lawsuits and the canceled contracts, there was a much darker chapter.
Lindell has never hidden it. Crack cocaine, gambling, broken marriages the whole nine yards. By his own telling, dealers had an “open warrant” to collect from him because he owed so much. Yet somehow, on one frigid Minnesota night in 2009, he says he woke up clean and never looked back.
That comeback story is the cornerstone of his new campaign website. “You know that I overcame my addiction to drugs,” he writes. “You know that I founded amazingly successful companies.” The message is clear: if I can beat that, I can fix Minnesota.
A Crowded GOP Primary Just Got Loud
Lindell isn’t walking into an open field. The Republican endorsement fight already features heavy hitters: House Speaker Lisa Demuth, former state senator Scott Jensen (who ran against Walz in 2022), and several others. Most insiders assumed it would be a traditional, relatively polite contest between establishment conservatives.
Then Lindell dropped his video on social media Wednesday night and everything tilted sideways.
Love him or hate him, the man knows how to grab attention. Within hours #LindellForGovernor was trending in the Twin Cities. Whether that translates into caucus votes in February 2026 is another question entirely, but nobody can say the race will be sleepy anymore.
The Platform: Taxes, Schools, and That Billion-Dollar Scandal
Lindell’s policy page is refreshingly blunt. He’s promising:
- A sharp reduction in property taxes (“government-sponsored theft” in his words)
- Cutting in-person sales tax to 5%
- Major school reform with heavy emphasis on parental rights and school choice
- A full investigation into the alleged $1+ billion Feeding Our Future fraud case that exploded during the pandemic
That last one is political dynamite in Minnesota right now. Critics of Governor Tim Walz have spent years claiming his administration looked the other way while massive amounts of federal COVID relief money meant for child nutrition allegedly disappeared into luxury cars and real estate, much of it traced to individuals in Minneapolis’s large Somali community. Walz and his team insist they acted as soon as the scope became clear, but the scandal continues to dog him.
Lindell is leaning all the way in, calling it “the biggest corruption scandal in Minnesota history.” Whether voters see it as principled outrage or divisive culture-war fodder will probably decide a big chunk of the GOP primary.
“I’ll stand for you against government-sponsored theft of your livelihood via exploding property taxes, excessive fees, and unfair sales taxes.”
Mike Lindell, campaign website
Can a Trump Loyalist Flip Minnesota?
Minnesota hasn’t elected a Republican governor since Tim Pawlenty left office in 2011. Donald Trump lost the state by 7 points in both 2016 and 2020, though the margin narrowed slightly last cycle.
Yet something feels different heading into 2026. Walz’s national profile took a beating as Kamala Harris’s running mate, property taxes are through the roof in the suburbs, and rural Minnesota is as red as ever. If turnout models shift even a couple of points, suddenly races everyone wrote off become competitive.
Lindell’s path would still be extraordinarily steep. He’ll need to win a primary first, then convince independents and moderate suburban women that the MyPillow Mike is ready to run a $50 billion state government. But politics isn’t about résumés anymore it’s about energy, name ID, and telling a story people want to believe.
And nobody tells a redemption story quite like Mike Lindell.
What Happens Next?
The Minnesota GOP caucus and convention process is notoriously quirky. Candidates need 60% support at the state convention for the official endorsement, but anyone can still run in the August primary even without it. That’s how Jesse Ventura shocked the world in 1998.
Early betting markets (yes, they already exist) have Lindell as a long-shot for the nomination, but stranger things have happened. If he can turn his national donor list and media Rolodex into cash and volunteers, he could force a contested primary that scrambles every assumption about 2026.
One thing is certain: between now and the August 2026 primary, Minnesotans are going to hear the name Mike Lindell a lot. Whether they hear “Governor Lindell” after that remains one of the most improbable, fascinating political questions in the country right now.
Politics, like life, loves a comeback story. And if there’s one thing Mike Lindell knows how to do, it’s come back.
