Mike Lindell, MyPillow CEO, steps down from post to run for Minnesota governor

Mike Lindell is leaving his role with the MyPillow company to focus on his campaign to become the next governor of Minnesota. In a social media post published on Tuesday, Lindell said that the company was strong enough to withstand his departure.

“This decision is not about walking away. It is about stepping forward to serve. I am putting Minnesota above myself, my title, and my business interests so I can give this campaign and the people of our state my full time, energy, and attention,” Lindell said.

Lindell, who has been endorsed by Donald Trump, is a longtime loyalist of the president who has spent millions of dollars trying to prove that the 2020 election was rife with fraud. He says that his run is meant to disrupt the state’s political establishment.

“The establishment hasn’t done anything for us,” he said. “People can’t afford to live and I wanna make Minnesota affordable again.”

Lindell, a Minnesota native, is currently in court fighting a lawsuit filed by state senate hopeful Dan Fiskum who, in a suit filed on 22 July, claims that Lindell violated campaign finance policies by passing out pillows that had “Mike Lindell for Governor” written on the package.

Lindell called Fiskum’s allegations, “a complete lie”, and expects the judge will rule in his favor soon. He added that he and his campaign checked with the state’s campaign finance board to ensure they could pass out the promotional pillows, which Lindell says cost less than $5.

“This is all a hit job, we are not in violation at all,” he said. “This is an attack on me running for governor, because the GOP didn’t like that I got Donald Trump’s endorsement.”

In recent years, Lindell has had to pay out millions of dollars for defaming a former employee of a voting machine company and to another man who debunked data Lindell used to advance Trump’s false claim that his 2020 election defeat was the result of voting fraud.

Minnesota’s primary elections will be held on 11 August.