MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell says he’s stepping away from his post at the company to focus on the Minnesota governor’s race.
“After 22 years of leading MyPillow, I know the company is ready for its next chapter and I know Minnesota cannot wait,” Lindell wrote in a press release. “This decision is not about walking away. It is about stepping forward to serve.”
Lindell rose to prominence for supporting President Donald Trump’s attempts to contest the results of the 2020 election and has faced a slate of lawsuits and legal challenges since — including during his current gubernatorial run. His decision to focus on the upcoming Aug. 11 primary comes as he battles questions about his residency eligibility and a campaign law violation lawsuit.
Lindell said the move will allow him to dedicate his “full time, energy, and attention” to the campaign and Minnesotans, while former MyPillow President James Furlong takes over as CEO — a position Lindell has held since he founded the company in 2004. He also reduced his stake in the company to a minority share, but he will remain on MyPillow’s board of directors.
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The Minnesota Republican Party last week asked state officials to clarify the residency rules concerning gubernatorial candidates after reports that Lindell was registered to vote in Texas — the second time in a month the state party has cast doubt upon his candidacy. According to Minnesota’s constitution, gubernatorial candidates must live in the state for at least one year before the election.
“The Republican Party does not want Minnesotans who vote for any candidate for Governor to find, after the fact, that their vote was effectively wasted because the candidate did not meet constitutional qualification that could and should have been clarified in advance,” Alex Plechash, the state party chair, wrote in a letter to the Minnesota secretary of state.
On Monday, Lindell sent TV station KSTP pay stubs that show he’s paid taxes in Minnesota since at least August 2025.
“I don’t know why Alex Plechash, or whatever his last name is, and what he has against me,” Lindell said. “But ever since I got Donald Trump, the president’s endorsement, he has viciously attacked.”
The Minnesota secretary of state’s office told the network it does not have the “investigative authority” to review residency claims and deferred to the state Supreme Court.
Lindell is currently facing a lawsuit alleging he violated campaign finance rules by distributing promotional pillows at a July 4th parade. He told WCCO the allegations were a “set-up hit job” and he felt “very confident that there was no violations.”
Lindell’s social media accounts have been banned or restricted by several platforms for pushing election fraud claims, including Twitter and YouTube in 2021. He launched multiple social media platforms in response to these restrictions. On Tuesday, Lindell said his Facebook advertising accounts had been restored after calling on Meta to look into his gubernatorial ads apparently being blocked by the platform.
Lindell, whom Trump endorsed in July, has also faced several legal actions related to his false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen, including a House committee subpoenaing his phone records in 2022 during its Jan. 6 probe.
Lindell targeted voting system companies with claims of election fraud, leading to a $1.3 billion lawsuit from Dominion Voting System, now known as Liberty Vote, in 2021. The voting hardware company confidentially settled its defamation suit earlier this month after a former Republican election official purchased the voting company in October.
In a separate case last year, a federal appeals court ruled Lindell did not have to pay a $5 million award to a software engineer after he mounted a “Prove Mike Wrong Challenge” over claims China interfered in the 2020 election.
A recent poll found Lindell leading the Republican field at 35%, followed by Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth at 26% and Kendall Qualls, who earned the state party’s endorsement, at 11%.
Whichever candidate wins the GOP nomination is likely to face Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who has steadily outraised her Republican opponents.
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