Mike Lindell, the fervent supporter of President Donald Trump known to TV viewers as the “MyPillow Guy,” officially entered the race for Minnesota governor Thursday in hopes of winning the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Gov. Tim Walz in 2026.

Lindell made the announcement at a news conference at his MyPillow factory in the Minneapolis suburb of Shakopee that he streamed live on his Lindell TV conservative news platform. He says his political opponents had tried to shut him and his company down because of his support for Trump's claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Lindell has been sued twice for defamation over his claims that voting machines were manipulated to deprive Trump of a victory.

A federal judge in Minnesota ruled in September that Lindell defamed Smartmatic with 51 false statements. But the judge deferred the question of whether Lindell acted with the “actual malice” that Smartmatic must prove to collect. Smartmatic says it's seeking “nine-figure damages.”

A Colorado jury in June found that Lindell defamed a former Dominion Voting Systems executive by calling him a traitor, and awarded $2.3 million in damages.

But Lindell won a victory in July when a federal appeals court overturned a judge's decision that affirmed a $5 million arbitration award to a software engineer who disputed data that Lindell claimed proved Chinese interference in the 2020 election.

“Well, it didn’t work. I’m still standing. MyPillow is still standing,” Lindell said. “And now I want you to know that I will stand for you as governor of the state of Minnesota.”

Machinery banged and hissed loudly in the background as workers packaged MyPillows. He went straight from his announcement into a live interview with another Trump ally, conservative strategist Steve Bannon, on his “War Room” podcast.

The energetic Lindell then took the interview with Bannon outside, where his new red-white-and-blue bus was running. He said he intends to take his campaign to every town in Minnesota.

Afterward, Lindell told reporters that he told Trump back in August he was considering running for governor. But he declined to predict whether he will get the president's endorsement, which could carry a lot of weight with the grassroots Republicans who will attend the state party's convention next year. He also acknowledged that he gets advice from Trump’s former personal lawyer and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has a show on Lindell TV.

Lindell, 64, founded his pillow company in Minnesota in 2009 and became its public face through infomercials that became ubiquitous on late-night television. But he and his company faced a string of legal and financial setbacks after he became a leading amplifier of Trump’s false claims that he really won the 2020 election. He said he has overcome them.

Lindell said he has a record of solving problems and personal experiences that will help businesses and fight addiction and homelessness as well as fraud in government programs. The fraud issue has particularly dogged Walz, the 2024 Democratic Party vice presidential candidate, who announced in September that he’s seeking a third term.