Lindell self-funding recount in double-digit Minnesota governor primary loss

Mike Lindell lost by double digits to Lisa Demuth, and he's paying out of his own pocket for a recount anyway. That's his money and his right, sure. But it's worth asking what exactly he thinks a recount is going to find when the margin isn't close, it's a landslide by primary standards. Recounts exist for razor-thin races decided by a few hundred votes, not for candidates who came up well short and don't want to accept it.

We get why Lindell has a chip on his shoulder here. He spent years insisting the 2020 election was stolen, went all in on that crusade, lost lawsuits, lost credibility with a chunk of the public, and now here he is again reaching for the same lever after his own defeat. There's something almost fitting about it, and not in a good way. If you spend half a decade telling voters the system can't be trusted, don't be surprised when you can't quite bring yourself to trust it either, even in a race you clearly lost fair and square.

Demuth ran a real campaign, built support inside the state party, and won decisively. Trump's endorsement clearly wasn't enough to overcome that gap, which itself is a data point worth sitting with. Republicans in Minnesota now have a nominee who earned it the hard way, and the party would be better served rallying behind her than watching a losing candidate burn his own money chasing a result that isn't going to change. A landslide isn't a mystery. It's just a loss..