Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder and President Trump’s preferred candidate for Minnesota governor, is not registered to vote in the state where he is running for office. The Minnesota Secretary of State’s office confirmed that Lindell “does not have an active record” as a registered voter in Minnesota, according to a Star Tribune review of voter records and official statements published on July 17, 2026.
Instead, Lindell maintains an active voter registration in Texas, where he lived for approximately one year before returning to Minnesota. His Texas registration is in Lufkin, a small city where an LLC tied to Lindell owns a house, according to property tax records reviewed by the Star Tribune. Lindell told the newspaper he lived in Texas because his wife is from the area and that he has now re-established residency in Minnesota full-time.
When asked if he was registered to vote in Minnesota, Lindell said he didn’t know and would have to check. However, he stated he would “obviously” vote and that he wouldn’t cast a ballot in Texas because he no longer lives there. “I’m not going to vote twice,” he said in the interview. Lindell does not legally need to be registered to vote in Minnesota to run for governor, but candidates must meet voter eligibility requirements.
The revelation comes days after Trump endorsed Lindell on July 15, 2026, upending the Republican primary ahead of the August 11 primary election. Lindell is competing against Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth and retired health executive Kendall Qualls, who won the party’s official endorsement in May. The Star Tribune reported that Lindell appears to be the only major gubernatorial candidate not registered to vote in Minnesota, while his Democratic rival, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, is registered but enrolled in a home address privacy program.
The situation highlights an irony: Lindell has made election integrity the central pillar of his political life and campaign. He has called for strict scrutiny of voter rolls and hosted “election integrity events” after the 2020 election that encouraged critics to review voter lists for potential fraud. Yet his own lack of knowledge about his voter registration status in the state he seeks to lead has drawn attention. The Star Tribune review of voting records showed that Lindell last cast a Minnesota ballot in the 2022 general election before moving to Texas, where he voted in the 2024 election.
Lindell’s case also illustrates the complexity of the U.S. election system, where a person can legally be registered to vote in multiple states—it becomes illegal only if someone casts a ballot in both states. When and if Lindell registers to vote in Minnesota, he will likely remain registered in both states until Texas officials remove his name from the state’s voter rolls. This dual registration is not uncommon in an era of high residential mobility.
Sources
- Star Tribune — confirmed Lindell has no active voter registration in Minnesota according to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office; verified his active Texas voter registration; reported his statements about moving back to Minnesota and his lack of knowledge about his registration status
- The New York Times — reported Trump’s endorsement of Lindell and his status as a leader of the election denial movement
- MPR News — confirmed Trump’s endorsement of Lindell on July 15, 2026, and the August 11 primary date
