Early voting for the Aug. 11 primary starts this Friday, and one of the most-watched races in Minnesota is the very tight contest for governor on the Republican side.
The latest poll in the race for the GOP nomination shows a new frontrunner: longtime associate of President Trump, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. The poll released by SurveyUSA and KSTP shows Lindell leading the race with 27%, to 22% for House Speaker Lisa Demuth, to 17% for businessman Kendall Qualls.
“There are other polls that came out that show Mike Lindell in a certain spot, but when you look at the disapproval number, he was very high, whereas I had a very small dislike part,” Demuth said in an interview with WCCO on Sunday.
The president has not made a formal endorsement in the race, but he has said that Mike Lindell “deserves to be governor of Minnesota.”
Both Qualls and Demuth say they would like to get Mr. Trump’s endorsement in the next few weeks.
“I think that the endorsement of the president is an honor for any candidate, so if President Trump endorsed me, I would seek his endorsement, of course,” Qualls said.
Demuth, who has made affordability a central issue in her campaign, says she still would like the president’s backing, despite Mr. Trump’s decision to go to war in Iran, which has resulted in higher gas prices for consumers and higher diesel prices for farmers.
Demuth says the fraud scandal in state government is one of her most important issues.
“We are continuously uncovering additional fraud that has been kept at bay, or whatever the case is, a lot of times it’s a lack of internal controls. You have seen some of those agencies try to put some of those internal controls in place, but Minnesotans want their tax dollars protected. I have committed to doing that,” Demuth said.
Last month, Demuth lost the party endorsement to Qualls. Demuth had said she would drop out of the race if she didn’t get the endorsement, but she changed her mind because of voting machine irregularities at the convention.
“What happened there was enough question with the technology that was being used that prompted the state party chair to come out two days after the convention and say, ‘We are not going to hold people to abiding by the endorsement,'” Demuth said.
Qualls called Demuth’s decision “unfortunate.”
“When you give your word, people expect that to follow through,” Qualls said.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar won the DFL endorsement for governor, and polls show she would easily beat all the Republicans in the general election. However, one recent poll shows Demuth would do best against Klobuchar. Demuth points to that as a sign that voters should cast their votes for her in the primary because she has the best chance to beat Klobuchar in November. Qualls disagrees.
Qualls does have less cash on hand than Demuth. Demuth has $544,000; Qualls has $100,000. That pales in comparison to Klobuchar, who has $3.4 million in cash.
You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
Esme Murphy
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