Trump-backed Mike Lindell falls to Lisa Demuth in Minnesota governor primary

Mike Lindell has spent five years telling anyone who'd listen that elections can't be trusted, and then he went and lost one. Fair and square, apparently, since he's not out there claiming Lisa Demuth's win was rigged. Funny how that works.

The bigger story here is what Trump's endorsement didn't do. Republican primary voters in Minnesota looked at a candidate with the President's blessing and a pillow fortune behind him, and picked the state House Speaker instead. That's not nothing. It suggests GOP voters are capable of separating "I like Trump" from "I'll nominate whoever Trump tells me to," which is a healthier instinct than a lot of people give the party credit for.

Demuth is a real legislator with a real record, not a guy best known for a documentary about forensic audit software nobody could ever produce. Against Amy Klobuchar in the fall, that difference matters. Klobuchar has run statewide for years and knows how to make an opponent look like a curiosity rather than a threat. Republicans in Minnesota needed someone who could survive that fight, not someone who spends the debate defending 2020 instead of talking about 2026.

There's a lesson here for the party beyond this one race. Grievance can win headlines and MyPillow ad slots, but it doesn't win Minnesota. Voters picked competence over noise, and if the national party wants competitive Senate seats in blue-leaning states, that's the trade it should be making everywhere, not just where a primary forced the issue.