It’s been more than 50 years since the Republican Party won Minnesota in the presidential election, but former President Trump said he has a “very good chance” of ending his losing streak in a 2024 rematch with President Biden this November. Ta.
The former president is in the reliably blue state Friday night to headline the Minnesota Republican Party’s annual Lincoln-Reagan fundraising dinner.
Trump defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, losing Minnesota by just 1.5 percentage points. In his re-election campaign four years ago, he lost the state to President Biden by more than 7 points.
Ahead of the 2020 election, Trump promised to win Minnesota and said he would “never come back” if he lost.
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Former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, on May 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Four years later, Trump is back and predicting victory again.
“I think we have a very good opportunity in Minnesota,” President Trump said in an interview Wednesday with KSTP, a local TV station in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. “We have a great camaraderie there.”
Trump added that he has “worked hard on Minnesota” and pointed to the House majority whip, saying “Tom Emmer is very involved.”
Even though the former president and his allies helped thwart Emmer’s bid for speaker of the House last fall, Emmer, who attended the state’s Republican party’s gala with Trump, was the first Trump to appear in Minnesota. He is the chairman of the faction.
The Trump and Biden campaigns will hold seven key battleground states that decided the 2020 election: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, which Biden narrowly won, and North Carolina, which Trump won by a razor-thin margin. Ready for battle. We believe they will likely meet again in a rematch in 2024, giving both campaigns an opportunity to expand the map.
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Two weekends ago, Trump campaign senior advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, along with veteran pollsters, attended a private Republican National Committee retreat for big-time donors at a resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Tony Fabrizio drew attention to “internal investigations that point to both Minnesota and Virginia.” It’s clearly in play. ”
The study, which was shared with Fox News, emphasized that “in both states, Mr. Trump is in a position to swing key electoral votes in his favor.”
Former President Trump headlines the Republican National Committee’s spring donor camp in Palm Beach, Florida, May 4, 2024. (Donald Trump 2024 Campaign)
And both states have significant numbers of rural white voters without college degrees who disproportionately support the former president.
The Biden campaign disagrees with the idea that either Minnesota or Virginia is a win.
Dan Kanninen, the Biden campaign’s battleground state manager, told reporters last week that “we’re not taking any vote for granted in any state,” adding, “We’re still six to seven months away from the general election. I can’t find any public opinion polls.” Since we can predict things six to seven months ahead of time, better than weather forecasts, we can be certain of the number of animals. ”
Kaninen emphasized that the campaign has voter engagement teams on the ground in both states.
He added: “We feel strongly that the Biden-Harris coalition in both Minnesota and Virginia was strong in the midterm and off-year elections and will continue to be strong for us in the fall of 2024.”
And Biden campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt pointed to the president’s current fundraising advantage and ground-based advantage in key battleground states, saying, “The Trump campaign has a campaign campaign worth talking about.” They have little infrastructure and rely on leaking memos that say, “Our polls are our polls.” They paid us money to show us victory. ”
But Minnesota Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips, who launched a long and unsuccessful primary challenge against the president, insists that “Minnesota is involved.”
Phillips said in an interview on Fox News’ “Special Edition” this week that Minnesota, like many other states, “is a reality that I think a lot of Democrats don’t want to confess. “There is,” he claimed. My colleagues who support President Biden, including myself, believe there is much work to be done. ”
While the Trump campaign is looking for opportunities to expand in Minnesota and Virginia, the Biden campaign appears to be focusing on the battleground states of North Carolina and Florida.
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Trump carried the Sunshine State by less than 4 points in 2020, but two years ago Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio each won reelection by nearly 20 points. fulfilled.
Lacivita claimed that the Biden campaign is playing “a charlatan game” in both states, but that Trump has “a real opportunity to expand the map in Virginia and Minnesota.”
Trump’s stop in Minnesota comes a week after he held a large rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, a red stronghold in a predominantly blue state where Republicans have not led the state in presidential elections in more than 30 years. That’s for later. Trump lost the state to Biden by 16 points four years ago.
“We will win New Jersey,” President Trump vowed at the rally.
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