MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is promoting his bid for Minnesota governor by handing out copies of his autobiography – and paying for them with thousands of dollars in campaign funds.
According to The Daily Beast, Lindell has spent roughly $187,000 of the $356,000 he raised during the first two weeks of his campaign on bulk purchases of his book, “What are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO.” Lindell announced his gubernatorial run in December after being encouraged by President Donald Trump, who refers to him as “the pillow guy.”
“When we’re going around to all the places in Minnesota, other people are giving a flyer,” Lindell told the Minnesota Reformer. “I’m giving them the whole book so they know who I am.”
Lindell, a prominent 2020 election denier who has accused Satan of interfering in the vote, has spent millions promoting conspiracy theories about election fraud, according to the Daily Beast report. In June, he was ordered to pay $2.3 million in damages for defaming a former Dominion Voting Systems employee and has said he is millions of dollars in debt, the outlet added.
“I can’t self-fund. I don’t have any money left,” Lindell previously acknowledged.
Instead, his campaign has relied on donor contributions to purchase copies of his $19.97 book, which recounts his recovery from crack addiction to embrace evangelical Christianity. He has framed the autobiography as “a raw, authentic account by a man many thought would never rise above his serial, addiction-fueled failures.”
But Lindell still faces long odds in a race that would ultimately pit him against likely Democratic nominee Sen. Amy Klobuchar in a state where Republicans have not won statewide in two decades.