Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth wants to be your next governor. But before you decide whether she's fighting for you, it's worth asking who's fighting for her — because one out-of-state billionaire is quietly footing a huge chunk of the bill.

The Minnesota Reformer reported that a political action committee tied to Demuth's campaign, called Restore Sanity, has taken in about $1.1 million from a national PAC largely funded by billionaire Richard Uihlein. That money has turned Demuth's campaign into the best-funded in the Republican field — by a mile.

The money gap

Here's what that billionaire cash buys. As of the end of May, Demuth's campaign had about $517,000 on hand. Her Republican rivals? GOP-endorsed candidate Kendall Qualls had about $34,000 (and that includes a personal loan he still owes himself), and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell had about $12,000.

On top of that, Restore Sanity has spent more than $1 million on TV ads, digital ads, and mailers boosting Demuth over the past six months — including one ad that casts her as a comic-book superhero saving Minnesotans. When asked about it, Demuth said she hadn't seen the ad before it aired, but added, "I have seven grandkids… they now know I am a superhero rather than just talking about it."

That's the power of a billionaire's checkbook: it can make one candidate a "superhero" on TV while her opponents can barely afford yard signs.

Who is Richard Uihlein?

Uihlein owns Uline, one of the largest shipping-and-packaging suppliers in North America. He and his wife Liz are among the biggest Republican megadonors in the country. This cycle alone, the Uihleins have poured $50.7 million into GOP candidates, anti-abortion campaigns, and efforts to limit LGBTQ rights, according to the Washington Post — enough to rank as the sixth-largest donor of the 2026 midterms.

This is not vague "conservative giving." It's targeted:

• Uihlein poured millions into the fight against Ohio's abortion-rights amendment — at least $4 million there, and roughly $6.5 million against a similar measure in New York.
• He bankrolled a Maine ballot measure to roll back protections for transgender athletes.
• OpenSecrets has documented the couple's sprawling dark-money network, including funding for election-denial groups.

When the Reformer asked whether Demuth even knows Uihlein or sought his money, her campaign didn't respond. Uline's spokesperson wouldn't comment on its owners' politics.

Why Demuth is a natural fit for his money

You don't have to guess why an anti-abortion megadonor would spend big to make Lisa Demuth governor. Her record lines up with his agenda almost perfectly.

Demuth has called opposing abortion from conception "biblical," said she would "champion the unborn," and as a state lawmaker introduced a bill to ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected. She opposed Minnesota's PRO Act, which protects reproductive rights under state law.

In other words, the causes Uihlein spends millions to advance across the country are the same ones Demuth has spent her career pushing in Minnesota. His money isn't charity — it's an investment in an agenda most Minnesotans don't share.

The broken promise his money is paying for

There's one more thing that billionaire cash is quietly funding: Demuth's decision to go back on her word.

Demuth had pledged to "seek and abide by" the Minnesota GOP's endorsement. Then she lost it — Republican delegates chose Kendall Qualls after 10 rounds of voting. Instead of bowing out, Demuth stayed in the race, pointing to alleged voting problems at the convention. Qualls said she was putting "vanity and political ambitions" ahead of her promise.

She can afford to ignore the party's own voters because she doesn't need them — she has a billionaire. That's exactly the problem. When your campaign runs on one megadonor's millions, the people you actually answer to aren't the voters of Minnesota. They're the person writing the checks.

The bottom line

Minnesotans deserve a governor who works for them — not for a Wisconsin billionaire's national crusade against abortion rights and LGBTQ Minnesotans. Lisa Demuth's campaign is being carried by exactly that kind of money. Voters should know whose agenda they'd really be getting.

Source

Reporting by Michelle Griffith / Minnesota Reformer.