Lisa Demuth wins Minnesota GOP gubernatorial primary in upset victory, continues longshot bid against Amy Klobuchar

Lisa Demuth, the Minnesota House speaker, is projected to win the Minnesota Republican gubernatorial primary, beating six other candidates and pulling an upset win over President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate Mike Lindell.

Decision Desk called the race at 9:30 p.m. CST. As of 9:40 p.m. CST, Demuth led with 46% of the vote, with 34% of the estimated vote counted.

Despite a lead in campaign cash on hand, Demuth’s odds of winning were low going into Tuesday’s election. She had not led in a poll since June, with Lindell, the MyPillow founder, leading in the two most recent SurveyUSA polls. She also did not get Trump’s coveted endorsement, with the president instead choosing a fervent 2020 election denier in Lindell.

The Republican Party of Minnesota also notably did not endorse Demuth, instead endorsing businessman and perennial candidate Kendall Qualls in May in a confusing convention vote that was derided by party officials. And in a caucus straw poll in February, Republicans did indicate in a February straw poll that they preferred Demuth, though. Despite the results from the convention, she stayed in the race.

If elected, Demuth would be the first woman and the first person of color elected as the state’s governor. She already became the first House speaker of color in 2025 after a three-week government shutdown.

During Tuesday’s primary elections, Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) voters chose U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) as their party’s nominee over six other candidates. Klobuchar, the popular four-term senator and former presidential candidate, became the DFL’s widely preferred candidate in January. She joined a few weeks after Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) abruptly ended his reelection campaign amid repeated attacks from Trump and multiple stories of state government fraud that happened while he was in office. If elected, Klobuchar would be the state’s first female governor.

Klobuchar heads into the general election season as the heavy favorite, as Sabato’s Crystal Ball labels the race as “Safe D”. In a June poll, Klobuchar led over Demuth by eight percentage points in a one-on-one matchup.