On Friday, Mike Lindell of MyPillow, who for some reason became a leading figure in pushing conspiracy theories about imaginary fraud in the 2020 presidential election, was defeated — by a lot — in the race to lead the Republican National Committee (RNC), which constitutes the main party organization at the national level for the GOP. Lindell got just four votes.
Ronna McDaniel, who previously led the RNC, was re-elected to the spot with 111 votes. (Harmeet Dhillon, a GOP party official who also challenged McDaniel, received far more votes than Lindell, finishing with 51.) Lindell was predictably confident about his chances at winning the top spot at the party organization in remarks ahead of the vote. “Well, why wouldn’t I win? I am more qualified,” Lindell said at one point. Lindell also made significant breaks with the basic foundation on which the RNC functions, indicating, for instance, support for Trump, although a national party organization like the RNC would traditionally stay neutral during a presidential primary, at least when the party isn’t fielding an incumbent. Trump was scheduled to make some of his first campaign stops ahead of 2024 this weekend, heading to both New Hampshire and South Carolina — though it’s not a given he will eventually win. Some Iowa GOP officials aren’t even answering his calls.
For Lindell, the loss adds to a long list of the same. Besides the overarching loss for Lindell and his fellow election deniers when Trump made his legally mandated exit from the White House, Lindell was also involved — via helping with financing — in a failed lawsuit in Arizona from eventually failed GOP candidates in the state, who sought to force a hand-count of ballots there amid unfounded concerns with machines. That case eventually resulted in a judge agreeing to sanctions for lawyers involved in proceedings on the GOP candidates’ side. Now, one of those contenders — Kari Lake, who lost in Arizona’s 2022 race for governor — is challenging her election defeat in court and losing again, including in two successive rejections by the state Supreme Court of a push to take up her case before further proceedings at a lower level.
Lindell also continues facing defamation litigation over lies he helped spread about the 2020 presidential election and, specifically, the role supposedly held by election technology companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic in imaginary fraud. Lindell has been sued by both companies, and he has lost in attempts to shut down the litigation brought by both. He’s hardly alone in facing that kind of case, with Rudy Giuliani and Fox also among the defendants named in filings from these targeted companies.
