Mike Lindell Withholds Payment for Minnesota Election Recount

MyPillow founder Mike Lindell is withholding payment for a recount — that he requested — after he lost the Republican primary for Minnesota governor this month, his campaign said in a news release Monday.

Read more What $1.5 Million Gets You in D.C., Maryland and Virginia (Back-to-School Edition)

Lindell, a bedding magnate who rose to prominence as one of the highest-profile boosters of President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread election fraud in the 2020 election, said he backed off wiring nearly $1 million to state officials because of the recount rules laid out by the secretary of state’s office.

Lindell alleges that Steve Simon, Minnesota’s top election official, narrowed the recount’s scope: Instead of reexamining all ballots, the recount would only cover those cast for Lindell and the winner of the primary, Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, and not for the other five Republican gubernatorial candidates.

The decision incensed Lindell, who alleged his team had found “anomalies” that applied “to all of the candidates, not simply Lindell and Demuth.”

His campaign vowed to take legal action over the discrepancy.

Lindell remains an ardent believer in widely debunked claims of voter fraud. He has endured social media bans and legal trouble over his activism, including a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, now known as Liberty Vote.

But at least one high-profile backer is still embracing Lindell: Trump, who endorsed the Minnesota businessman’s gubernatorial bid last month, saying, “Nobody has sacrificed more than Mike Lindell in fighting for our country, especially when it comes to Election Integrity.”

Read more Secret Service Investigating $10M Bounty Iran Placed on Barron Trump

Lindell has refused to concede to Demuth since the Aug. 11 election. He released a statement a week later that he would privately fund a recount and audit of “every paper ballot cast in the Aug. 11, 2026 Republican primary election for Governor of Minnesota.” Lindell claimed his team identified “vote totals that moved backwards during the reporting,” “counties reporting more votes than cast” and “unusual synchronized vote totals across all seven Republican candidates” — which he alleges are signs of tampering with the results that could sway the vote in his favor.

Lindell’s campaign said Monday that under the recount rules laid out by state officials, Democratic ballots would not be recounted, “even though the same ballot form was used for both gubernatorial primaries.” The actions, his campaign added, put Lindell in an “untenable position.”

If he were to submit the $825,000 fee under the new scope, the recount would “not be conducted in a lawful manner nor would it address the election anomalies cited by his team,” the Monday press release said. And if Lindell fought for a wider scope, he would not meet a payment deadline “for the unlawful recount.”

The Minnesota secretary of state’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lindell’s voter fraud claims or his decision to withhold payment. Simon has previously pushed back against federal inquiries into the state’s election system, saying “Minnesota’s elections are fair, accurate, honest, and secure.”

Demuth will face Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who won the Democratic nomination by a wide margin, in November.

Read more Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller’s WSJ Op-Ed Criticizing Bessent Was Written With AI