Trump-Endorsed Minnesota Governor Candidate Mike Lindell Not Registered to Vote in the State

Mike Lindell wants to be Minnesota's next governor. He can't currently vote for himself there. The Minnesota Secretary of State's office confirmed Lindell has no active voter registration in the state, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. A review of voter records shows he's actively registered in Texas instead. Lindell, 65, confirmed the situation in a Saturday interview with the New York Times. He said it's not his real problem. "They are saying, 'Mike Lindell can't win,'" he said, referring to the Minnesota Republican Party. "It's disgusting. They are trying to discredit the endorsement." President Trump endorsed Lindell on Truth Social this week, calling him "one of America's greatest and most hardworking Patriots," according to the Daily Beast. Minnesota's Republican primary is set for Aug. 11, and early voting is already underway. How he ended up unregistered Lindell moved to Texas in 2024 after marrying his current wife, Kendra, and registered to vote there, according to the New York Times. He says he moved back to Minnesota, where he was born and raised, in 2025 to run for governor. Voting records show his last ballot cast in Minnesota was in 2022, according to the Daily Beast. In a court filing last year, Lindell described himself as a "Texas citizen," the Daily Beast reported. Minnesota law requires gubernatorial candidates to have established residency in the state for at least one year before the general election, a requirement Lindell says he's now met. Under Minnesota law, none of this stops him from running. The state allows same-day voter registration, meaning Lindell could register and vote on Election Day if he chooses. "Obviously I'm going to vote," he told the Times. "I'm not going to vote twice," he told Just the News, addressing the fact that he's currently registered in two states at once. The polling and the primary fight Lindell faces two rivals in the Aug. 11 GOP primary: Kendall Qualls, a businessman endorsed by the state Republican Party, and Lisa Demuth, speaker of the Minnesota House. A SurveyUSA/KSTP poll conducted earlier this month had Lindell leading the Republican field with 27% support, ahead of Demuth at 22% and Qualls at 17%, according to the Daily Beast. But a hypothetical general-election matchup from June showed Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar with a 17-point lead over Lindell. Klobuchar is considered the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination after Gov. Tim Walz dropped out of the race last year, according to the New York Times. Minnesota hasn't elected a Republican to statewide office since 2006. Lindell claims the state party is actively freezing him out despite Trump's backing. "They're having a big GOP endorsement where they're having a debate, and I'm not allowed to come. They've shut me out," he said on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast, according to the Daily Beast, adding that Minnesota media has ignored his campaign to the point that "you wouldn't even know I'm running." The financial picture Lindell's legal and financial troubles are piling up alongside the campaign. He was ordered to pay $2.3 million in damages to a former Dominion Voting Systems employee last year after a federal jury found him liable for defamation, according to the New York Times. A federal judge separately found he defamed Smartmatic, another voting-technology company, though damages haven't been set. Dominion's own lawsuit against him was recently settled. Hennepin County property records show Lindell owed $27,000 in unpaid taxes as of 2025, the Times reported. Lindell has spent years pushing unproven claims that the 2020 election was "rigged," including suggesting "Satan" played a role in Trump's loss, per the Daily Beast. No court or election authority has found evidence supporting those claims, and Lindell has lost multiple defamation cases tied to them. Nothing here suggests Lindell broke any law. Minnesota's same-day registration system exists precisely so residents in his situation can vote without being registered in advance, and being unregistered doesn't affect ballot eligibility as a candidate. The story is less a legal problem than a political one: a candidate who built his national profile on distrust of the voting system currently can't vote for himself in the race he's trying to win. Lindell will need to formally register in Minnesota before Aug. 11 if he wants to cast a ballot in his own primary. Whether the state GOP's public skepticism costs him the nomination, or whether Trump's endorsement is enough to overcome it, will be decided that day.