Lisa Demuth

Lisa Demuth grew up in Paynesville, Minnesota, and graduated from Bloomington Kennedy High School in 1985. The Legislative Reference Library lists her occupation when first elected as business owner. She served 11 years on her local school board before running for the Legislature. She was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2018 from District 13A in Stearns County, living in Cold Spring, and took office on January 7, 2019; she was reelected in 2020, 2022 and 2024. She was assistant minority leader in the 2021 to 2022 session, minority leader in the 2023 to 2024 session, and was elected Speaker of the House on February 6, 2025, after the 2024 election produced a tied chamber. She announced her campaign for the Republican nomination for governor on November 2, 2025. In the August 11, 2026 Republican primary she won 43.4 percent of the vote over Mike Lindell and Kendall Qualls, according to the NBC News Decision Desk. She faces DFL nominee Amy Klobuchar in the November 3 general election.