ST PAUL, MINN – The Chairman of the Republican Party of Minnesota is speaking out after a ‘significant disruption’ was experienced during Saturday’s gubernatorial endorsement process.
The process was stalled during the fifth round of balloting – after the field was narrowed to two candidates, the Republican endorsed candidate Kendall Qualls and Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth.
“When our team observed a notable drop in the total number of votes cast, we exercised caution and paused the process,” Alex Plechash said. “Party leadership met with the voting vendor and members of our convention team to review the data, examine the system, and better understand what had occurred.”
He said the party also alerted the campaigns as to the information and updated them throughout the process.
Plechash says the party remains ‘confident in the integrity of the data, the results reported and the endorsed candidates chosen by the convention.’
“The Republican Party of Minnesota stands behind those results,” he said. “At the same time, I recognize that the disruption created confusion and concern among delegates, campaigns, and observers. The delay also extended an already long process, and that is not the experience we wanted for our delegates, our candidates, or our convention.”
Plechash says any gubernatorial candidate who agreed to abide by the endorsement ‘should not be treated as bound by that pledge.’
“Those candidates may make their own decision about whether to continue their campaign into the primary,” he said.
