Republican primary voters charted their own course in backing Demuth, who had been passed over by both President Donald Trump and party activists at the state GOP convention in May. Demuth, of Cold Spring, became the first woman to win the GOP nomination for governor in Minnesota, and the first Black woman to be nominated by a major party in the state. It will be the first Minnesota governor's race with women as both major-party nominees, guaranteeing the state will elect its first woman governor. Election night party for Mike Lindell, a gubernatorial candidate in the GOP primary. Lindell refused to concede the GOP primary race to Demuth late Tuesday night, even after the race was called.