Former President Donald Trump is appearing in blue Minnesota on Friday, delivering the keynote address at the Minnesota Republican Party’s Lincoln Reagan Dinner as all eyes are on traditionally blue strongholds that the former president hopes to flip in November.
Trump has a busy day on Friday and is headed to Minnesota after attending his youngest son Barron Trump’s high school graduation in Palm Beach, Florida, earlier in the day.
In early May, the Republican Party of Minnesota announced Trump as the headliner for the 2024 Lincoln Reagan Dinner. At the time, Minnesota Trump Campaign Chair and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) said he was excited to “officially kick off our 2024 campaign” at the event.
“Joe Biden’s failed policies are showing Minnesotans each day that President Trump is the only choice to lead our country forward,” he wrote, hoping for a win in November.
Chairman Hann & the MN GOP are excited to announce that President @realDonaldTrump will be headlining our 2024 Lincoln Reagan dinner! We hope to see you there! pic.twitter.com/jIEq7UQBF1
— Republican Party of Minnesota (@mngop) May 6, 2024
Honored to welcome the former and next President of the United States @realDonaldTrump to Minnesota!
We are going to end the failed policies of the Biden Administration and get this country back on track. https://t.co/ytmd5YK2U9
— Tom Emmer (@tomemmer) May 6, 2024
The event is significant, as it essentially marks the beginning of Trump’s play for the state — a state that has not tipped red in decades. The last time the state went red was in 1972, when Republican Richard Nixon defeated Democrat George McGovern in a landslide win. But in 2016, Trump came remarkably close to taking the state, coming just 1.5 percentage points behind Hillary Clinton. The difference was less than 44,000 votes.
While Trump has said throughout his campaign that he will make a “heavy play” for blue states such as New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, Virginia, and Minnesota, he reiterated that point during a recent interview on KNSI Radio.
“It’s not like, in my opinion, that blue,” he said of Minnesota. “We’re going to put a heavy move into Minnesota, I promise.”
Recent polls have also showed that this pursuit is not in vain, either.
A May KSTP/Survey USA poll showed Trump well within striking distance of President Biden in the North Star State, garnering 42 percent support to Biden’s 44 percent. Because Biden’s lead is within the survey’s ± 4.3 percent margin of error, it is a virtual tie.
Further, a May survey from McLaughlin & Associates found Trump with the edge over Biden in Minnesota, leading with a three-point advantage over Biden in a head-to-head matchup.
As Breitbart News detailed:
In a matchup between Trump, Biden, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and Libertarian Lars Mapstead, Trump sees a five-point advantage, garnering 46 percent support to Biden’s 41 percent, Stein’s three percent, and Mapstead’s one percent. Nine percent remain undecided.
In a matchup including Trump, Biden, independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, Jill Stein, and Mapstead, Trump and Biden tie with 40 percent each. Kennedy sees nine percent support, followed by one percent for West, one percent for Stein, and half a percent for Mapstead. Another nine percent remain undecided:
🇺🇲 2024 GE: @realDonaldTrump internal
MINNESOTA
Trump 49%
Biden 46%
–
Trump 40%
Biden 40%
RFK Jr 9%
West 1%
Stein 1%
Mapstead 1%
–
Trump 46%
Biden 41%
Stein 3%
Mapstead 1%
——
VIRGINIA
Biden 48%
Trump 44%
–
Biden 40%
Trump 37%
… pic.twitter.com/RzmJY4ammh— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) May 7, 2024
Trump pollster John McLaughlin, CEO and partner of McLaughlin & Associates, said during a Tuesday appearance on Breitbart News Daily that Minnesota is certainly in play for the former president.
“Minnesota, we had Trump at 40 percent, Biden at 40 percent, Kennedy at nine, and Virginia was Biden 40, Trump 37, Kennedy eight, so Virginia and Minnesota are in play,” he explained.
This plan — an aggressive expansion of the electoral map — is not new, either, as Trump previewed this very plan during a December interview with Breitbart News.
“One of the other things I’m going to do — and I may be foolish in doing it — is I’m going to make a heavy play for New York, heavy play for New Jersey, heavy play for Virginia, heavy play for New Mexico, and a heavy play for a state that hasn’t been won in years, Minnesota,” Trump said.
“I’m going to do rallies, I’m going to do speeches, I’m going to work them,” Trump said. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to work them as hard as I work Pennsylvania, where I’m doing very well.”
Trump’s recent rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, serves as a prime example of this strategy in action, as he pulled an enormous crowd of roughly 100,000 in the Garden State.
