MyPillow founder offers to fund recount after losing Minnesota GOP governor primary

Mike Lindell, the founder of MyPillow and a former Trump-endorsed candidate, said he is ready to cover the cost of a full hand recount of Minnesota’s Republican primary for governor, which he lost to state House Speaker Lisa Demuth by about 11 percentage points. In a phone interview, Lindell said he has hired a team to investigate the primary and has asked the Minnesota secretary of state’s office for a cost estimate. The office’s general counsel, Lauren Bethke, responded that a full recount and audit would cost roughly $825,000. Lindell expects the total expense to exceed $1 million when he adds the cost of his own investigative team, and he said he will personally deliver the official recount request on Monday.

The secretary of state’s office has not yet received a formal request; the letter from Bethke indicated that a request must be accompanied by a bond, cash, or surety for the estimated cost by the following Monday. Lindell said he will also arrange for observers at each county’s recount site.

In a news release, Lindell claimed his team identified “irregularities” in the election data that he attributes to electronic voting machines, adding that the recount could serve as a step toward eliminating such machines. He has previously faced lawsuits over false statements about the 2020 election, including a federal judgment ordering him to pay Smartmatic USA Corp. $56,369 in damages and daily fines for non-payment. Lindell’s attorneys have asked a district judge to reconsider that ruling, citing newly released documents, though the documents do not provide evidence of widespread fraud. Lindell said he will continue to challenge the ruling regardless of the outcome.