Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth has won the Republican gubernatorial primary and will move on to face the Democratic nominee in November to replace outgoing Gov.Tim Walz.The victory amounts to a significant show of strength for Demuth, who stayed in the race after losing the Republican Party endorsement to Kendall Qualls at the state convention.
Qualls secured the endorsement after 10 ballots, but Demuth argued that her legislative experience and record leading House Republicans made her the party’s strongest candidate for November.Additionally, Demuth defeated MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell, who had President Donald Trump’s endorsement and has national name recognition.No Republican has won a statewide election in the state since 2006, when Gov.Tim Pawlenty narrowly won reelection by less than a percentage point.
Since then, Republicans have lost 28 consecutive statewide contests through the 2024 election, an 18-year drought that became the longest for either major party in Minnesota history.KLOBUCHAR VOWS FRAUD CRACKDOWN, AUDIT OF MN GOV’T AS GOP BLASTS WALZ TIESMinnesota Gov.Tim Walz testifies during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing at the U.S.
Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 2026.The committee held the hearing to examine the alleged misuse of federal funds intended for Minnesota social services and Medicaid programs.
(Getty Images)The race was dramatically reshaped in January when Walz abandoned his campaign for a third term, saying he wanted to spend his final year in office focused on combating fraud in state programs rather than defending his political future.Walz had launched his reelection campaign only months earlier, but mounting scrutiny of fraud involving government-funded programs had become a major political liability and a central line of attack from Republicans.WALZ APPROVAL RATING CRATERS TO LOWEST LEVEL EVER AND TRAILS TRUMP AMID MASSIVE FRAUD SCANDAL: 'TIRED OF IT'Lisa Demuth, a Repu...