Mike Lindell refused to concede defeat in the Minnesota primary
Donald Trump supporter and businessman Mike Lindell has refused to concede defeat in the Republican primary for the Minnesota gubernatorial nomination. With nearly all votes counted, he trailed significantly behind State House Speaker Lisa Demuth, according to The Guardian.
The Associated Press declared Demuth the winner of the primary late on the evening of August 11. Based on the results available at that time, she was leading Lindell—who was backed by Trump—by more than 45,000 votes: Demuth had 43.4%, while Lindell had 32.5%. Third place went to businessman Kendall Qualls, who was backed by the state Republican Party.
In a conversation with a reporter from his own streaming channel, LindellTV, Lindell rejected the Associated Press’s declaration. He questioned the agency’s right to determine the election’s outcome and insisted that hundreds of thousands of votes had not yet been counted. “I’m not going to drop out of this race until the votes are counted. This is nonsense,” he said.
For more breaking news, follow the UA.News Telegram channel.
Lindell did not respond to a request regarding possible steps to challenge the results while he awaits the vote count. During the campaign, questions were also raised about his eligibility to run: for several weeks, he was not registered to vote in Minnesota because his registration remained active in Texas. However, Minnesota’s rules allow voters to register on Election Day, so this did not prevent him from voting or participating in the election.
On the eve of the vote, Trump called on Minnesota Republicans to support Lindell. Demuth became the first woman to win the Republican primary for governor of the state. In the general election in November, she is set to face Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, who won her party’s primary by a wide margin.
