Kendall Qualls speaks at the Minnesota Republican Convention in Duluth, Saturday May 30, 2026 Photo by Glen Stubbe/Minnesota Reformer
ST. PAUL (Minnesota Reformer) — Kendall Qualls should be in the driver’s seat as the Republican primary nears Aug. 11. The former healthcare executive and Army veteran was endorsed by the delegates at the spring state GOP convention, and Republican primary voters have typically followed the convention’s guidance.
Instead, the latest public poll shows he’s suddenly an underdog against House Speaker Lisa Demuth and pillow mogul Mike Lindell, who was recently endorsed by President Donald Trump.
A new KSTP/Survey USA poll shows Qualls, who garnered the support of over 1,000 Republican delegates at the spring convention, at a mere 11% among surveyed voters. Qualls in an interview with the Reformer dismissed the results as not “real,” so he’s not concerned.
Qualls is touting his business acumen and calls himself a political outsider. This is his second run for governor following a run for Congress in 2020.
During a Reformer interview, he laid out his plans for tax and spending cuts, a close relationship with law enforcement and rolling back trans rights. He talked about Trump’s endorsement of Lindell, and why he posted on his personal Facebook page a photoshopped picture of his wife in a Slingshot next to a floating pair of arms.
The following has been edited for clarity and length.
If elected governor, what would you do on day one?
No. 1: I would issue an apology to law enforcement officers. They’ve been made to be scapegoats for the past eight years for a lot of the things they had no responsibility for. They’ve been targeted and killed because they wear the uniform. This is just terrible.
Second: Executive orders when it comes to young boys in girls’ sports, locker rooms, bathrooms — we would get rid of that.
But also reduce taxes, regulations, permitting costs. Focus on getting our state back to business and cities safer, a huge emphasis on public school education — getting us back to the norms.
You said you would give Minnesotans a $9 billion rebate. What would you cut to achieve that since Minnesota is facing a looming deficit?
When Gov. Mark Dayton finished his last year of office eight years ago, there were no starving kids in the streets of Minneapolis. The schools were well-funded and performing much better. Dayton had a $40 billion budget. Years later, it’s $70 billion. For what? When we get reports that there’s $9 billion in fraud in Minnesota, that means that was never into the circulation of the state budget, so it was never needed.
There’s a way to cut the budget without people even feeling it, and it’s very simple. A $70 billion budget. An easy 12% cut across the board of every department. Businesses do this all the time.
There’s been reporting some recent Brian Nicholson, your running mate, about how he was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and there are several lawsuits alleging financial malfeasance in some companies he runs. How did you and your campaign vet Nicholson?
We did standard vetting. We did opposition research. Here’s the scenario: There’s not a business I’ve ever been in in my 30-year career that wasn’t sued by a vendor, wasn’t sued by employees. This is, unfortunately, normative in our country and with business. The key is you make sure you have people you can trust. That there’s nothing scandalous as it relates to doing something deceptive, illegal, anything that challenges peoples’ moral standards.
There was no issue as it related to that with Brian Nicholson.
Can you walk me through what your campaign is doing right now to reach Republican voters and encourage them to vote in the Aug. 11 primary election?
We got the endorsement from the Republican Party convention, all the delegates statewide, which was a Herculean task. And the delegates were right. When people get a chance to hear my message, see my background, odds are that this is the candidate they want to support.
We’re in great shape. Things are going well, and we’ve got a strong grassroot support around the state.
A new KSTP/Survey USA poll shows you badly trailing Mike Lindell. How do you overcome those numbers?
Well, if they’re real, it would be huge to overcome them, but they’re not. I’m not too concerned. Our data shows something very different. And if we were to believe polls, we would be talking about President Hillary Clinton and President Kamala Harris.
Our data shows for us a competitive tie with Lisa Demuth and Mike Lindell a distant third.
What did you do to try to get Trump’s endorsement? Did you ever speak to him or make that effort?
No, I never spoke with the president or anyone on his staff, but we made it publicly available that we would seek the endorsement of President Trump. I think anyone would want the endorsement of the president of the United States. But here’s what I know: President Trump is loyal to people that are loyal to him, and Mike Lindell nearly lost everything supporting the president in 2020. President Trump was going to stay loyal, so I understand it.
But at the end of the day, this election is going to be won by the endorsement of the people on the ground, local politics, grassroots efforts. The number one endorsement I’m looking for is the endorsement of the voter.
Why should Minnesota MAGA voters choose you over Lindell?
It’s not just MAGA voters. You think about some of the things that have been happening in our state. You have the governor, the attorney general and the chief justice of the Supreme Court pardoning a repeat sex offender. This is not the state that I know and remember. People just want to get back to normal.
We need to elect candidates that can win in a general election, and for the last 20 years, Republicans have not had that in the governor’s seat. We haven’t had it statewide.
We want someone that can win, and that’s why they chose me in that endorsement process. I don’t have a title behind my name. I’m not an office-holder. I don’t have a national company like Lindell. I don’t look like most Minnesotans in this state, but they chose someone that they trust in their values and their leadership.
How much money does the Qualls campaign have going into the final weeks before the primary election?
We have enough to be competitive and to win. If you’re interested in contributing, we’ll take it. That would be great, but I think what you’re asking is that narrative that we’ve struggled raising money.
Our campaign has raised over $1 million. Historically Democrats have always had more money than Republicans in the state. We need a candidate that can actually be competitive when they have less resources than their Democratic opponent. What I’ve demonstrated throughout this entire campaign, with Lisa Demuth having twice as much money as me, with Mike Lindell and his name recognition — I’ve been the underdog this whole time.
I was in Brainerd last week for a town hall with all five endorsed candidates. We only had 10 minutes to speak. At the end, this guy walks up to me and says, “I made a big mistake. I voted early for Lisa Demuth, but if I would have heard you speak first, I would have voted for you.”
If someone is willing to sit down and only hear me speak for literally 10 minutes and I could win them over, that tells me her support is not very strong and mine is.
Last week, I reported that you posted a picture on your Facebook page that appeared to photoshop your former staffer out of it. Why did you post that photo?
It was a Slingshot in the parade, and that was on my personal page. This wasn’t political. My wife was driving it, and I don’t want my family members to say, “Who’s that guy sitting next to your wife?” It was more of a personal thing. And they’re going like, “Man, who’s that dude hugging up next to your wife? That was the issue.
How did you photoshop it?
On my iPhone. It has that feature.
If you don’t win on Aug. 11, would you run for public office again?
I’m not even looking that far ahead. I told someone last night that I don’t have a plan B. I’m all in, and we’re going to win. I’ll answer that question on Aug. 12.
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