WASHINGTON — Mike Lindell, a close ally of President Donald Trump known as the "My Pillow Guy," said he's not ready to concede in the Republican primary for Minnesota governor, and blamed potential voting irregularities despite losing by 11 percentage points to Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth.
Even as it became clear he would fall short, the Trump-endorsed Lindell told reporters late Tuesday night that he believed 265,000 votes cast on Election Day hadn't been counted and could push him to the lead.
Asked on Aug. 11 whether he would concede if the Associated Press calls the race for his opponent, Lindell said he would not.
"The AP? Why would I listen to the AP?" Lindell said. "There's 265,000 votes left to count. I'm down by 18,000 now. We
just gained 5,000. I'm not going to give up this race until the votes are counted. That's nonsense."
Lindell never pulled ahead, and the Associated Press called the election at 11:26 p.m.
Lindell later told reporters he needed time to review the results, convinced the numbers didn't add up correctly based on the final batch of votes. He questioned Minnesota's computerized counting system, and said that all elections should be conducted by paper ballot.
"It just doesn't make sense, you guys. So we need a day. We're going to look into it," Lindell said, suggesting that there could have been voting irregularities, though not specifying what they were. "We've got different teams right now. I've been on the phone with three of them. And the one person said, 'Y, we've seen a couple of anomalies.'"
By the the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 12, all of Minnesota's precincts had been counted, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State's office. Demuth won with 179,546 votes over Lindell's 134,198, a margin of 43%-32%. Demuth will square off against U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic nominee for Minnesota governor, in the November election.
The Lindell campaign did not respond to an email from USA TODAY asking whether he's still refusing to concede his loss. Lindell has not made any additional public statements since his primary defeat.
Lindell, who stepped down as CEO of My Pillow to run for governor, has a history of denying election results and remains one of Trump's top defenders backing unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump.
As Lindell watched a momentary shift in election returns going his way, he expressed confidence that he would overtake Demuth.
"If this is a sign, we will have the lead within an hour," Lindell said. "I mean, this is big news. This is a big jump. They must have started counting the day-of votes."
Lindell didn't get the bounce he needed, however, and Demuth secured the Republican nomination by double digits.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump-backed Mike Lindell refuses to concede Minnesota election loss
