Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth won the state’s Republican primary for governor on Tuesday, defeating My Pillow founder Mike Lindell, endorsed by President Donald Trump, and GOP-endorsed candidate Kendall Qualls.
Demuth advances to the Nov. 3 general election, where he will face Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who overwhelmingly won the Democratic nomination earlier in the evening.
Incumbent Gov. Tim Walz announced earlier this year that he would not seek a third term.
Republicans have not won a Minnesota gubernatorial election since Tim Pawlenty was reelected in 2006.
Jane Smith of Rochester, who identified herself as a fan of Trump, told The Epoch Times on primary day that she erred from the president’s endorsement and voted for Demuth.
She cited Lindell’s proposed six-month moratorium on deportations for immigrants whose only crime is being in the U.S. illegally. Those illegal immigrants would be given an opportunity to register for conditional work permits.
But Smith holds concerns on whether Demuth can beat Klobuchar in November. “I’m afraid because of name recognition,” she said.
Demuth, a Republican from Cold Spring, in 2018 was the first female Republican elected to the Minnesota House and became House minority leader following the 2022 election. She became the first Black Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2025.
She campaigned on reducing the state’s two lowest income tax rates, eliminating state taxes on Social Security benefits, and creating an independent inspector general to investigate fraud. She has expressed support for investing more in public safety.
Lindell entered the final days of the primary as the frontrunner. A KSTP/SurveyUSA poll released shortly before the primary showed him leading Demuth by 6 percentage points.
Diane Rivers of Rochester voted for Lindell. She told The Epoch Times it won’t be easy for Republicans to prevail over Klobuchar due to name recognition.
Rick Rivers, who was at the polling station in Rochester with Diane, noted further challenges.
“Because we are dealing with Minneapolis and St. Paul, it’s mostly Democrats and a ton of corruption,” he said.
Olmsted County GOP Chair Aaron Eberhart agreed. He told The Epoch Times that better name recognition could backfire on the Democrats over all the fraud linked to Minnesota.
“In this state, the bigger issue is the fraud and how much of that is at the hands of Democratic leadership,” Eberhart said. “Name ID can hurt people on that front if their names are associated with being in leadership when you see a lot of mismanagement of taxpayer funds.”
Klobuchar’s campaign platform focused on “rooting out fraud” after the state made national headlines for child care fraud last year. She also wants to expand access to child care and lower the costs of prescription medications.
She said she will “hold the line” on utility bills by modernizing Minnesota’s power grid and adding more renewable energy.
The senator said she wants to build more homes and do so faster to meet the 100,000 home shortage in the state. She said she will do that by reforming permitting, cutting red tape, and removing the delays and fees that she said are driving up costs.
Kathryn and Dano Lange of Rochester told The Epoch Times they voted for Klobuchar.
Kathryn Lange said she believes any GOP candidate will have trouble winning in November because of Trump.
Dano Lange said Trump broke his election promise of no new wars, saying that has made him unpopular in the state.
