Trump’s Minnesota Gambit Threatens GOP Campaign as Strategists Warn
US President Donald Trump (L) chats with Russia's President Vladimir Putin as they attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on November 11, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / SPUTNIK / Mikhail KLIMENTYEV (Photo credit should read MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump’s recent endorsement of Minnesota GOP candidate Mike Lindell, founder and CEO of MyPillow, to unseat Democratic Governor Tim Walz in the 2026 gubernatorial race has raised alarms among Republican strategists.
The president has repeatedly labeled Walz “grossly incompetent,” linking these accusations to a range of issues including fraud investigations, immigration concerns, and political violence. Additionally, Trump has connected a Minnesota social services fraud investigation to Somali immigrants and made disparaging remarks about them, claiming they are “taking over” the state.
Michael Brodkorb, a former deputy chair of the Minnesota GOP who supported the Democratic ticket in 2024, stated that Trump’s rhetoric would be detrimental to Republican candidates. “When the president comes in with a flamethrower and just throws that type of rhetoric, there’s no oxygen, and there’s no space for the Republican to offer suggestions and to be thoughtful in that space,” Brodkorb explained. “The rhetoric of the president just paints them into a corner.”
Dustin Grage, another Minnesota Republican strategist, warned that if Lindell secures the nomination, the GOP would face severe consequences: “We’d be cooked.” He added, “I’d be moving to Florida very shortly. We would lose pretty badly if Mike Lindell were to get the nomination.”
Minnesota was a Democratic stronghold in 2020, winning by a comfortable margin and not a splashy showing for Trump even when he was president. In 2024, Trump did not win the state, continuing a long streak of Democratic victories there — though his presence made the race more competitive.
Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chair Richard Carlbom emphasized that Walz “heads into reelection with a record focused squarely on working people and kitchen-table issues.” Carlbom noted: “While the GOP clown-car primary remains consumed by infighting and loyalty tests for Donald Trump, Minnesota families are falling behind as Republicans unleash higher grocery prices, skyrocketing healthcare bills, and giant tax breaks for billionaires.”
With about a dozen candidates vying to replace Walz, including Speaker of the Minnesota House Lisa Demuth and businessman Kendall Qualls, an Army veteran who ran for governor in 2022, the race remains intense.
