Lisa Demuth

Running for Governor in Minnesota

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Dismissed Trump's Tariffs as They Crushed Minnesota and Made Everything More Expensive
Attacked Health Care for Minnesotans
Supports Taking Food from Minnesota Families
Stood By as DOGE Gutted Minnesota Jobs and Services
Blocked Gun Safety Laws After School Shootings
Is Bankrolled by an Out-of-State Billionaire and a Casino
Has an Extreme Anti-Abortion Record
Backed Federal Forces Operating Against Minnesotans
Tried to Seize Power the Voters Did Not Give Her
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Dismissed Trump's Tariffs as They Crushed Minnesota and Made Everything More Expensive

Trump's tariffs drove up prices for Minnesotans and battered the state's farm, oil, and ore industries. Lisa Demuth would not criticize them — and eventually defended them outright.

When Minnesota's legislative leaders were asked about the tariffs in April 2025, Axios reported that GOP leaders "avoided weighing in directly on the issue" — Demuth said only that Republicans would "keep an eye on what's happening at the federal level" and that state lawmakers should stay focused on "what is known at this time."
The Star Tribune reported that same week that the tariffs would fuel higher prices for Minnesotans, hitting a state that imports $40 billion in goods a year — most of the oil refined into Minnesota gasoline comes from Canada, as do the supplies of the Iron Range ore industry. By September, with China refusing to book a single shipment of the U.S. soybean harvest, Minnesota farmers were in Washington asking for a bailout as tariffs "decimate export orders".
Launching her campaign for governor in November 2025, Demuth said she would seek Trump's endorsement and praised his record: "he's used tools such as tariffs that have been effective, they are hard but effective."
A month later, Demuth blamed Minnesota's affordability crisis entirely on Governor Walz — property taxes, car tab fees, DFL budgets — without a word about the tariffs she had just called effective.

Demuth praised the tariffs that raised prices and crushed Minnesota's farm economy. We deserve better.

Attacked Health Care for Minnesotans

Every Minnesotan deserves access to quality, affordable health care. Lisa Demuth supported cutting it.

In July 2025, Demuth and House GOP floor leader Harry Niska endorsed Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" in a joint statement concluding "On balance, this bill appears to benefit Minnesotans." The Senate version of that bill was projected to cost at least 17 million Americans their health coverage. Democrats on Congress's Joint Economic Committee put Minnesota's own losses at more than 128,000 people losing coverage by 2034, about 102,000 of them losing Medicaid.
The Congressional Budget Office found the same bill would add so much to the national debt that it could force nearly $500 billion in Medicare cuts beginning in 2026.
Running for the Legislature in 2018, Demuth called for a "complete overhaul of our current system" and told the St. Cloud Times she would look at what was working before the Affordable Care Act and try to revive the Minnesota programs that worked. For 2026, 139,251 Minnesotans signed up for coverage through the ACA marketplace.

Demuth backed a bill that would rip away health care from tens of thousands of Minnesotans. We deserve better.

Supports Taking Food from Minnesota Families

More than 232,000 Minnesota households rely on SNAP to put food on the table. Lisa Demuth supported cutting that help.

Demuth endorsed Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill," which cut federal SNAP funding by $187 billion through 2034 — about 20 percent, the largest cut to SNAP in history, and shifts billions in costs onto states that must either backfill them, restrict eligibility, or leave the program.
USDA counted 232,216 Minnesota households receiving SNAP in April 2026. In December 2025, Demuth publicly questioned Minnesota's attorney general for suing to stop the Trump administration, asking why he was filing a lawsuit to block the USDA "from verifying eligibility of SNAP recipients & removing ineligible individuals from the program".

Demuth supported making food harder to afford for Minnesota families. We deserve better.

Stood By as DOGE Gutted Minnesota Jobs and Services

Minnesota is home to about 20,000 federal civilian employees and 1,152,818 Social Security beneficiaries. Lisa Demuth stood by as DOGE went after their jobs and the services they depend on.

DOGE ordered every probationary federal employee fired — new hires and experienced workers who had recently taken new positions or promotions alike. By February 2025 the Star Tribune had found dozens of Minnesotans among them; roughly two dozen spoke to the paper about losing their jobs, and every one of them knew of others in their department who had been dismissed.
DOGE also said it had canceled leases at 11 Minnesota properties, among them the St. Paul headquarters of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, a South St. Paul USDA office that inspects food animals, an Indian Health Service office in Bemidji, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration office in Hibbing.
Its cuts reached thousands of AmeriCorps members across Minnesota when $400 million in grants was terminated nationwide, and permanently froze a $3.8 million HUD grant meant to replace the furnaces and windows at Vista Village, a 50-year-old affordable housing complex in St. Paul.
Through all of it, Demuth's answer on government waste has been aimed at St. Paul, not Washington: her campaign promises an inspector general empowered to "root out fraud in all parts of government" in Minnesota, with nothing to say about the federal cuts landing on her own constituents.

Demuth stood by as DOGE cut jobs and services for Minnesotans. We deserve better.

Blocked Gun Safety Laws After School Shootings

After the Annunciation school shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesotans demanded action on gun violence. As House Speaker, Lisa Demuth refused to allow a vote.

A bill banning semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines passed the Minnesota Senate in 2026. DFL lawmakers staged a days-long sit-in in the House chamber and hundreds packed the Capitol demanding a vote — but DFL lawmakers said Speaker Demuth was holding up the vote. She insisted the bill had stalled in committee.
Demuth's own daughter Shelisa — who was a 10th grader at Rocori High School in 2003 when a gunman killed two students there — criticized her publicly, posting on Threads: "Imagine being the first House Speaker in state history who is also the mother of two school shooting victims and conveniently deferring a gun control bill to the next legislative session."

Lisa Demuth blocked a gun safety vote that Minnesotans — including her own family — were demanding. We deserve better.

Is Bankrolled by an Out-of-State Billionaire and a Casino

Our elected officials should work for us, the people.

Lisa Demuth's own campaign account is unremarkable. Across her governor and state House committees she has reported $1,102,119, 15% of it in small unitemized donations, with her ten largest named donors giving just $62,731 between them.

But that is not where the money behind her campaign is. A political committee tied to her run, called Restore Sanity, has taken in $2,876,000 - more than twice what her own campaigns have raised - and has already spent $2,719,710 of it on television, digital ads and mail promoting her. Nearly three quarters of that came from a single out-of-state source, and it is what turned her into the best-funded Republican in the race. Her nearest rivals had roughly $34,000 and $12,000 on hand at the end of May.

Look at who is actually paying for this campaign:

Restoration of America PAC - $2,095,000. An Illinois super PAC funded almost entirely by Richard Uihlein, the billionaire chief executive of the packaging giant Uline. Uihlein and his wife have poured $50.7 million into Republican candidates and anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ campaigns this cycle alone, making them the sixth-largest donors of the 2026 midterms - including at least $4 million against Ohio's abortion-rights amendment and roughly $6.5 million against a similar measure in New York. Demuth's campaign would not say whether she has ever met him.
Richard Uihlein again, personally - $100,000 to Restore Sanity, plus another $8,000 straight to her campaign. The causes he spends millions on nationally are the ones she has spent her career pushing in Minnesota - see Has an Extreme Anti-Abortion Record below.
Running Aces - $500,000. The racetrack and card casino in Columbus, Minnesota has a great deal riding on state government: in 2024 the Minnesota Racing Commission voted to let it install up to 500 historical horse racing terminals, a decision Minnesota tribes went to court over, and Running Aces has its own federal racketeering suit pending against three tribal casinos. All nine members of that commission are appointed by the governor.
The Republican State Leadership Committee - $150,000, the national organization that works to win state offices for the party.
For comparison, the largest donor to Demuth's own campaign gave $12,901. Restoration of America PAC gave the committee promoting her 162 times that.

Minnesota Republicans did not pick Lisa Demuth - their delegates endorsed Kendall Qualls, and she stayed in the race anyway. A billionaire from Illinois and a casino with business before the state have made her the front-runner regardless.

Lisa Demuth's campaign is being paid for by people who do not live in Minnesota and interests that need something from its governor. We deserve better.

Has an Extreme Anti-Abortion Record

Minnesota law protects abortion rights. Lisa Demuth has spent her career trying to take them away.

At a campaign meet-and-greet in May 2026, Demuth said: "I am a pro-life person. I have always supported life from conception to natural death and I won't back down on that." She added that the position "is our future and it is biblical."
As a state lawmaker in 2021, Demuth introduced H.F. 262, a bill "prohibiting abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detected" and providing criminal penalties. Asked about it after Roe fell, she told MinnPost her personal stance was "as long as there's a heartbeat, there is life." She has publicly thanked the crowds at Minnesota's March for Life rally for turning out to "champion the unborn."
In 2023, Demuth urged Gov. Walz to veto the PRO Act, complaining that it contained "zero guardrails." The bill wrote the right to abortion into Minnesota state law, making Minnesota the first state to do so by legislation after Roe was overturned.

Lisa Demuth has spent her career trying to take away Minnesotans' reproductive freedom. We deserve better.

Backed Federal Forces Operating Against Minnesotans

When Trump surged federal immigration agents into Minneapolis and threatened to use the Insurrection Act against Minnesota, Lisa Demuth sided with the federal government.

On January 7, 2026, an ICE officer in Minneapolis fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, in her car. Shown the footage on Newsmax two days later, Demuth said: "We have to respect the work that law enforcement is doing, whether it is city, state, or federal agents. That is a stance that I take." Her criticism in the interview was reserved for the protesters.
Days later Minnesota, Minneapolis, and St. Paul sued to block the planned surge of federal immigration officers into the Twin Cities, and Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military in Minnesota. Asked repeatedly on WCCO Radio whether she wanted the president to invoke it, Demuth would not answer, saying only "we need peace in Minnesota here" — and would not say whether she supported sending military personnel into the state.
Trump made that threat even though, two weeks earlier, he had pulled the National Guard out of Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland after the Supreme Court ruled he could not use troops for domestic law enforcement in Chicago.

Lisa Demuth backed federal forces operating against Minnesotans and would not say where she would draw the line. We deserve better.

Tried to Seize Power the Voters Did Not Give Her

Democracy means following the rules even when you don't like them. Lisa Demuth had herself elected House Speaker in a session the courts later ruled had no legal authority at all.

On the first day of the 2025 session, Secretary of State Steve Simon announced the House had not reached the 68 members needed for a quorum, declared the chamber adjourned, and left. The 67 Republicans stayed in their seats and voted to elect Demuth speaker — a move Democrats denounced as an "unlawful sham with no legal authority."
Demuth presided over the House for two weeks, electing officers and assigning committee chairs, until the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that 68 members were required for a quorum, meaning the chamber had held no official proceedings at all. As DFL leader Melissa Hortman put it: "Republicans tried to seize power that the voters did not give them."

Lisa Demuth tried to take power the voters didn't give her, and the courts had to stop her. We deserve better.

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