Mike Lindell offers to fund recount in Minnesota Republican primary for governor

MyPillow founder and Trump ally, Mike Lindell, has offered to personally finance a recount and audit of every paper ballot cast in Minnesota's Republican gubernatorial primary, despite losing the election by a significant margin. Lindell, who endorsed Trump and faced allegations of election irregularities, maintains that Minnesota law allows him to conduct a complete hand count of every ballot.

He stated, "One of the few good election laws Minnesota does have is that as a candidate, I have the right to completely audit and hand-count every ballot in the state." Lindell failed to secure a majority in the 11 August primary, trailing Lisa Demuth, the Minnesota House speaker, by approximately 11 percentage points, well beyond the 0.25% threshold that would trigger a state-funded recount.

Consequently, Lindell must formally request the recount and cover its expenses himself. The Associated Press declared Demuth the winner on election night, and Lindell's campaign alleged irregularities in the electronic reporting data. Minnesota's secretary of state's office estimated that a full recount would cost around $825,000, providing Lindell until 24 August to submit the request and payment.

This latest challenge follows years of election-related claims by Lindell, who built his political career on the lie that Trump's 2020 defeat was due to a rigged election. Courts have repeatedly dismissed these allegations, and in late August, Lindell settled a $1.3bn defamation lawsuit against voting technology company Liberty Vote over his stolen-election claims.