Mike Lindell offers to fund a private recount of Minnesota GOP gubernatorial primary votes, after losing to House Speaker Lisa Demuth

MyPillow founder Mike Lindell said he is prepared to spend “upwards of $1 million” to support a private recount of the ballots cast in the Minnesota Republican primary for governor, a process that would occur outside the state’s official recount framework. Lindell’s proposal comes after he lost the GOP primary to State House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R-Minn.), by 11 percentage points, according to The Hill’s report.

In the interview and comments reported by The Hill, Lindell said he has not accepted the outcome of the primary and has refused to cede to Demuth. He described “concerns with voting machines” as one reason he wants an independent, privately funded recount rather than relying only on official post-election processes.

Demuth, the current Minnesota House Speaker, won the Republican primary for governor over Lindell, with The Hill reporting that her margin was 11 percentage points. The gap means the nomination is substantially settled under Minnesota’s election certification process unless a court order or other legally authorized action changes the outcome.

Lindell’s plan, as described by The Hill, would shift the practical question from who certified the vote to what method would be used in any additional recount, who would oversee it, and what standard of access and documentation would apply to the private review. A privately funded recount can raise procedural issues, including how ballots and election records are handled and whether any private effort can replicate the state’s chain-of-custody safeguards.

The report also notes that Demuth’s win had already put the gubernatorial primary contest on the track toward general-election preparation. Lindell’s comments therefore represent a challenge to the finality of the primary results, aimed at the mechanics of ballot processing and tabulation, rather than a proposal tied to a specific legislative change or a request filed in court on the merits of the official count.

Because The Hill’s account focuses on Lindell’s readiness to pay for a recount and the reasons he cited, key details about the scope of the private recount were not established in the article itself, including whether any agreement has been reached with election officials or political authorities on participation, observers, and the exact ballot-handling steps.

Any such effort would likely need cooperation from Minnesota election administrators to access ballots and election materials under applicable state rules. Absent a legally enforceable mechanism, a private recount would also depend on what election administrators and the parties involved are willing to allow, and on whether any later dispute would be pursued through formal legal channels rather than privately financed review.