A day after the news broke that the top Republican in Minnesota state government, House Speaker Lisa Demuth, was running for governor, she said Monday she hopes to win President Donald Trump's endorsement in her bid to deny a third term to Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate.
Demuth kicked off her campaign at the state Capitol, where she became speaker under a power-sharing deal after the 2024 elections left the House tied at 67-67 and forced both parties to work together. She said she proved in the last legislative session that she was a strong conservative leader who could also navigate the challenges of working with Walz and other Democrats in a narrowly divided government.
“I have solid, conservative values that really do cross party lines,” Demuth said at a news conference. “It’s not just Republican values. They’re conservative values that are supported by many Minnesotans. If ... President Trump would choose to give me his endorsement. I would definitely welcome that.”
White House officials did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on her chances of getting the president's support. The Republican National Committee referred an inquiry to the White House. But Democrats were quick to tie Demuth to Trump.
“Fiercely aligned with Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda, a Lisa Demuth governorship would be disastrous for Minnesota,” the Walz campaign said in a fundraising mail to supporters.
Demuth and other Republicans in the race face a major hurdle: no Republican has won election to statewide office in Minnesota since 2006. But Walz faces a historical challenge of his own: no Minnesota governor has ever won a third consecutive four-year term.
"There are multiple things that needed to come together," Demuth said Monday morning talking to the WCCO Morning News. "My family has been on board, possibly even before I was sure, but then also navigating the organizational agreement within our caucus and the tie in the House. That matters to me very much. I will continue serving as Speaker throughout my term."
Walz, who launched his reelection campaign in September, has repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration over a wide variety of issues, from his immigration crackdown to the impacts of the federal government shutdown.
"That is not just on the perspective of Republicans, that is on the perspective of Minnesotans across the state - it is time for a change in the State of Minnesota," said Demuth speaking to WCCO's Vineeta Sawkar. "That is why I'm running for governor, and I look forward to the work over the next year, campaigning, but then the future and leading our state for the next four years after that."
Asked what she admires about Trump, Demuth said the president has delivered on his promise of safer borders.
Demuth has already come under criticism from some Republicans who say she has been too ready to compromise. She negotiated a power-sharing agreement for the 2025 legislative session with the top House Democrat, former Speaker Melissa Hortman, that ended a boycott by Democrats and led to a budget deal that included spending cuts and tax increases. She said they “worked very well in the most contentious of times.”
The speaker said Minnesota and the country are now in a “much different space” than before Hortman and her husband were assassinated in June by a gunman posing as a police officer.
“Political violence has no place in Minnesota. It has no place in our country," Demuth said. "And it takes leaders from the very top that tone down the negative rhetoric against each other and find ways to work together, even when we disagree.”
If elected, Demuth would be Minnesota's first female and first Black governor. But she played that down, just as she normally did when she became the state's first House speaker of color.
“I will be the best person to serve as governor in the state of Minnesota," Demuth said. “The things that might be historic that we’ve seen over time, typically, I don’t focus on those, but that’s part of my story, that’s part of who I am.”
Republicans in the race also include Rep. Kristin Robbins, who chairs a fraud-fighting committee formed as part of the power-sharing deal; former business executive Kendall Qualls, who also hopes to become Minnesota’s first Black governor; and the party's 2022 candidate, physician and former state senator Scott Jensen. Mike Lindell, the fervent Trump supporter known to TV viewers as the “MyPillow Guy,” has said he's seriously considering a run.
WCCO Political Analyst Blois Olson thinks Demuth is ready to be a strong candidate against Walz, and the others she would potentially face in a GOP primary.
"Demuth has definitely improved her profile, her confidence in the media," says Olson. "So I think she's cut out for the job. I think the, the real question is, between now and let's say February, fundraising delegates, and support from across the state. How does she do?"
Olson does warn that despite the early support for Demuth's candidacy doesn't mean that Jensen, Qualls or Robbins is going away.
"Members of the Republican caucus in the House are going to be the first to to kind of show their colors on where this governor's race goes," he adds. "Some are saying Lisa's candidacy should clear the field, others saying, you know, does this mean we're going to have a primary?"