The Associated Press called the race just before midnight on Tuesday as Demuth was leading with about 44% of the vote to Mike Lindell’s 32% out of the ballots counted thus far.
The primary saw the three front-runners vying to become the party’s nominee in a contest between different factions of the GOP.
Gubernatorial candidate Mike Lindell makes his case for the GOP nomination at the Minnesota Republican state convention in Duluth on May 30, 2026. —Richard Tsong-Taatarii—The Minnesota Star Tribune/Getty Images
Trump has never won Minnesota in any of his three presidential runs, but Lindell, who appeared to open a lead in the polls in recent weeks, touted the President’s endorsement days before the election.
The former CEO, like Trump, has vocally denied the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden. Lindell has faced defamation suits over comments he made related voting machines, some of which are ongoing. Last June, he was ordered to pay $2.3 million to a Dominion Voting Systems executive after a jury found that he spread false and damaging claims related to the 2020 election.
Lindell aligns largely with Trump’s approach to many issues, including slashing government spending. Among his campaign proposals was a “Minnesota DOGE,” a reference to the Trump Administration’s now-shuttered Department of Government Efficiency.
Qualls, the first Black candidate to win a major party endorsement for governor in Minnesota, called for unity in the party following his win.
Gubernatorial candidate Kendall Qualls makes his case for the GOP nomination at the Minnesota Republican state convention in Duluth on May 30, 2026. —Richard Tsong-Taatarii—The Minnesota Star Tribune/Getty Images
Qualls has never previously held public office, but he was not a new face on the campaign trail in Minnesota. This year’s primary marked Qualls’ third campaign for a major seat. He mounted an unsuccessful bid in the race to represent Minnesota’s third congressional district in the U.S. House in 2020 and previously ran for governor, also unsuccessfully, in 2022.
Demuth largely aligned on policy with Qualls, but sought to distinguish herself on the campaign trail by emphasizing her government experience as the first Black woman and Republican woman to serve as House Speaker.
Demuth, who leads a state House with an even split between the two parties, touted her ability to broker deals and communicate within a thinly divided government.
Tim Walz, who has been the governor since 2019, launched a bid for a third term but dropped out in early January amid investigations into state welfare agencies and government-affiliated programs that were widely targeted by fraud.
The Cook Political Report rates the Minnesota governor’s mansion as Solid Democrat, among those it deems least likely to flip in this election cycle.
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