Morning Digest: Nation's No. 2 election denier gets endorsed by No. 1

And the news is giving Minnesota Republicans serious heartburn

Mike Lindell (left), Republican candidate for Minnesota governor (credit: Mike Lindell Facebook)

Leading Off

MN-Gov

Donald Trump on Wednesday endorsed MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, who is perhaps the most notorious election conspiracy theorist in the nation after Trump himself, ahead of Minnesota’s Aug. 11 Republican primary for the state’s open governorship.

State GOP chair Alex Plechash, though, was anything but happy with Trump’s decision to take sides in the race to replace Democratic incumbent Tim Walz, who is not seeking a third term. He instead did what few prominent Republicans dare and put out a statement objecting to Trump’s pick.

“When the going got tough under Tim Walz, Mike Lindell left Minnesota for Texas,” Plechash wrote. “Now he wants Minnesota Republicans to overlook his serious financial baggage, public records showing tens of thousands of dollars in delinquent property taxes, significant electability concerns, and unanswered questions surrounding his running mate.”

Plechash further raised the specter that Lindell would do so poorly against Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the likely Democratic nominee for governor, that he’d harm GOP candidates for the legislature, giving Democrats a better chance to regain full control of state government.

The state Democratic Party, known as the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, currently enjoys a one-seat majority in the 67-member state Senate. Republicans, though, flipped enough seats in the state House in 2024 to force a 67-67 tie that led to a power-sharing arrangement between the two parties.

Both sides are hoping to come out on top in a fall showdown where neither party has room for error. Plechash, though, believes the GOP’s prospects would get a whole lot worse if primary voters listen to Trump next month and choose Lindell.

“Minnesota cannot afford to nominate a ticket that gives Democrats an easy target and creates the very real possibility of another DFL trifecta,” he wrote in his statement. “Other Republican candidates have spent years strengthening our party, supporting candidates, raising resources, and doing the hard work required to win elections.”

While Plechash did not name either of Lindell’s two intraparty rivals, businessman Kendall Qualls and state House Speaker Lisa Demuth, he’s previously made his support for the former known.

Qualls, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2020 and governor in 2022, earned the state GOP’s endorsement in May by defeating both his rivals at the party’s statewide convention. Demuth, for her part, secured the position of speaker last year as part of the bipartisan agreement that ended a nearly month-long Democratic walkout that kept the state House from doing business.

Polls have shown Klobuchar, who has pulled off overwhelming victories in all four of her bids for the Senate, with a decisive advantage over all three Republicans. Lindell, however, does the worst of the bunch.

The most recent public survey, a Mason-Dixon poll conducted last month, showed Klobuchar demolishing Lindell 53-36 as she led Qualls and Demuth by smaller margins of 48-37 and 48-40, respectively. That poll also showed Lindell as the best known—and most disliked—of the GOP trio.

But Lindell, whom Trump dubbed “the ‘Pillow Man’” in his Truth Social post, doesn’t sound at all interested in persuading intraparty critics like Plechash that he’s capable of changing his image.

“What perfect timing on the heels of tomorrow night’s big announcement of declassifying all the evidence from the 2020 election that you guys [the media] have called me a liar,” Lindell told the Minnesota Reformer on Wednesday.

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The Downballot Podcast

How Democrats can make Mississippi competitive

“We have to fall in love with math,” Senate candidate Scott Colom tells us on this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast. Colom, a Mississippi district attorney, is vying to unseat Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who blocked his nomination to the federal judiciary in 2023. Now, as the cost of living and political corruption have skyrocketed, Colom is making the case that his home state is a worthy investment because of how cheap it is to campaign there—and how close Democrats have come in several recent statewide races.

Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also get listeners caught up on the latest developments in both states that suddenly have to pick replacement Senate nominees. They emphasize Lindsey Graham’s rancid legacy, including his effort to help Donald Trump overturn Georgia’s election in 2020, and note that the GOP could wind up with a substantially weaker candidate. They also explain how Maine Democrats will choose a substitute to take on Susan Collins at a convention later this month.

Senate

SC-Sen

Republican Rep. William Timmons said Tuesday evening that he wouldn’t run for the Senate as long as his victory could leave his House seat temporarily vacant next year.

“Unless the South Carolina General Assembly changes state law, any current member of Congress already on the ballot for reelection who is elected to replace Senator [Lindsey] Graham would leave their House seat vacant on January 3, 2027,” ​​Timmons wrote on X.

Lawmakers have not shown any obvious interest in making any changes to state law ahead of the July 28 filing deadline for the special Republican primary for Senate.

Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman would not share Timmons’ problem because they both opted to wage ultimately unsuccessful campaigns for governor rather than seek reelection, allowing their seats to be filled in November. Timmons, though, is not eager to see either colleague replace Graham.

“I also want to say this plainly: I cannot support Ralph Norman or Nancy Mace as Senator Lindsey Graham’s successor,” ​​Timmons wrote. “This is not personal. It is about what South Carolina deserves.”

Both Norman and Mace have shown interest in running to replace the late senator, and Norman even told Bloomberg News over the weekend that he’d announce his plans on Tuesday.

That day, however, came and went without an announcement. Instead, Norman told CNN on Tuesday that he’d reveal his intentions the following day. Wednesday began with Norman taking to Fox Business to once again reaffirm his interest, but once again, the day ended without any definitive action.

Trump, for his part, appears to prefer that a fourth member of South Carolina’s House delegation take Graham’s Senate seat.

On Monday, in an appearance on the far-right Newsmax, Trump praised Rep. Russell Fry as “somebody you can watch out for.” Such a campaign, though, could leave Republicans in the same position that Timmons warned would hurt the GOP in the House.

Governors

AL-Gov

Plaintiffs challenging Republican Tommy Tuberville’s eligibility to run for governor filed an appeal with the Alabama Supreme Court on Tuesday. The move came a week after a lower court judge dismissed the matter after determining she lacked the authority to proceed.

House

HI-01

Democratic state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole this week debuted his first negative ad targeting Rep. Ed Case ahead of their Aug. 8 primary clash in Hawaii’s 1st District, while Case quickly responded with his own spot pushing back against the challenger.

Keohokalole, in a spot first shared by Axios’ Andrew Solender, begins his ad with footage of Case from his 2006 primary challenge against Sen. Dan Akaka.

“It is time for the next generation of leadership,” says Case, then 53. “We just need the courage to choose it.” His bid to unseat the 82-year-old senator was ultimately unsuccessful, though he later returned to the House.

“It’s 20 years later, and things aren’t going well,” Keohokalole, 42, says as he begins his argument against Case, who is now 73. “Families are leaving, and Washington still isn’t listening. Hawaii deserves a representative that’s living what you’re living. I’ll fight for a future we can actually afford.”

Case, though, insists he remains the best person to address the state’s problems.

“We all know these are tough times,” the incumbent says in his spot. “My opponent talks a lot, but not one real solution.”

He continues, “I’ll do much more with my seniority and appropriations. Without that, Hawaii goes to the back of the line.”

MI-07

Sen. Elissa Slotkin on Wednesday endorsed former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam three weeks ahead of the closely watched Democratic primary for Michigan’s 7th District, a swing district Slotkin herself represented until early last year.

Maasdam faces diplomat Bridget Brink and climate activist William Lawrence on Aug. 4 for the right to take on freshman Republican Rep. Tom Barrett, an opponent Slotkin is quite familiar with.

Slotkin fended off Barrett in 2022 in one of the cycle’s most expensive House races. The Republican, however, flipped this Lansing-area constituency two years later after Slotkin opted to run for the Senate rather than seek reelection.

MO-01

Former Rep. Cori Bush, who has spent the last two weeks on the receiving end of heavy spending by allies of Rep. Wesley Bell, is going on the offensive, arguing in her first ad that Bell’s backers succeeded in “buying a congressman” by denying her renomination two years ago.

Bush, who was first elected in 2020 to represent Missouri’s safely Democratic 1st District, tells the audience she spent her two terms “bringing home record funding, keeping families in their homes, [and] fighting to end the genocide in Gaza.”

“That brought on millions of dollars of lies and attacks from AIPAC and Trump’s donors,” she continues. “That’s outside groups buying a congressman.”

“St. Louis lacks a fighter in Washington,” Bush says of her rival. “You know I’ll never stop fighting for you.”

Bush debuted her spot after affiliates of AIPAC and the centrist New Democrat Coalition together spent more than $2 million on advertising promoting Bell and criticizing his challenger. Outside groups have not yet come to Bush’s aid.

MO-06

Next month’s Republican primary for Missouri’s open 6th District has become a nasty affair, with supporters of conservative radio host Chris Stigall and Kansas City Councilman Nathan Willett firing off ads accusing the other candidate of failing Donald Trump.

An outside group backing Stigall called Come and Take It PAC begins one spot, “When President Trump banned transgender people from military service, woke Nate Willett lashed out at Trump on Twitter.”

That narration is accompanied by a 2017 tweet from Willett, in his capacity as student body president of the University of Missouri, saying, “Brave Americans are Brave Americans. Patriots of all backgrounds should have the opportunity to selflessly serve our country!”

The narrator goes on to accuse Willett more recently of voting to spend tax dollars on “transgender sex education, the gay rodeo association, and the anti-MAGA fringe festival.”

FEC records show that Come and Take It has spent close to $1 million so far to help Stigall, who has the support of retiring Rep. Sam Graves. Willett’s backers, by contrast, have deployed less than a quarter of that sum.

Willett’s campaign, though, hopes to overcome this disadvantage with advertising showing footage of Stigall sounding disloyal to MAGA’s master.

“Donald Trump’s not a conservative. I will not support Donald Trump,” Stigall tells his listeners at the beginning of a montage of old clips Willett features in his new ad.

“Let’s go with a proven leader,” Stigall says in another clip. “Let’s go with [Ron] DeSantis, or let’s go with [Nikki] Haley.”

Trump himself has yet to weigh in on the primary in this conservative constituency in northern Missouri. Both candidates, though, are focusing on Graves’ ardent support for Stigall—for entirely opposite reasons, of course.

“He’s well respected and well plugged into the agriculture community,” Stigall said of Graves at a recent event. “So he will be my go-to source on a lot of agriculture issues in particular.”

Willett offered a very different take on the congressman, who unexpectedly announced his retirement in March just days before the candidate filing deadline.

“I’m proud to not be endorsed by the congressman,” Willett informed St. Louis Public Radio last month. “I’m proud to actually be a person myself that’s not controlled, and I think that’s what people in north Missouri want.”

Poll Pile

• MI-Gov (D): The Glengariff Group for WDIV and the Detroit News:

  • Jocelyn Benson: 72, Chris Swanson: 12.

• PA-Gov: Quinnipiac University:

  • Josh Shapiro (D-inc): 53, Stacy Garrity (R): 40.

  • Feb.: 55-37 Shapiro.

• SD-Gov (R): Emerson College for KELO-TV:

  • Larry Rhoden (inc): 62, Toby Doeden: 32.

• FL-14 (R): St. Pete Polls for Florida Politics:

  • Mike Beltran: 30, Kevin Steele: 18, other candidates 2% or less, undecided: 46.

• FL-14: St. Pete Polls:

  • Kathy Castor (D-inc): 46, Beltran (R): 38.

  • Castor (D-inc): 46, Steele (R): 39.

• MA-06 (D): Global Strategy Group for Jake Auchincloss:

  • Auchincloss (inc): 64, Jason Poulos: 17.