Republican Tom Emmer (R-MN), a former National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, backed up Trump’s claim that Republicans were making Minnesota ‘in play’ more than five decades after they last carried it at the presidential level − calling the state ‘complete middle America,’ but also expressed a preference for Trump’s decision to focus less on attacking Democrats this week and more on touting his administrationMAGA’s successes.
Former President Trump is stepping up efforts in two states Democrats have carried for decades by opening field offices in Virginia and Minnesota.
The Trump campaign told Fox News it was ramping up efforts in both states, though they have been reliably blue during recent presidential elections. The campaign is finalizing the leases on eight “Trump Force 47” field offices in Minnesota and 11 in Virginia, according to a campaign memo obtained by Fox News on Friday.
State-level operation managers have been hired by staff in every state, and field team organizers are being organized both to help the ex-president.
The campaign memo says, “Collateral materials will land in early July in both states, and we’ve already begun to generate Trump Force 47 Captain recruits to get them into training.”
Just two months ago at a Republican National Committee retreat for top donors in Palm Beach, senior Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita along with veteran pollster Tony Fabrizio presented internal polls that showed “Minnesota & Virginia are clearly in play.”
The survey, which was shared with Fox News, emphasizes that Donald Trump is poised to flip battleground states Michigan and Iowa post GOP convention.
Minnesota has not voted republican since Richard Nixon won his second term in 1972. In 1984 it was the only state Reagan lost on his way to electoral college domination.
But a new poll finds they would be close among likely voters in Minnesota, too: 45% for Biden and 41% for Trump in the president’s reelection campaign rematch of last November.
Trump lost Minnesota to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election by a narrow 1.5 points. Four years later, Biden carried the state by seven points.
Prior to Trump’s latest Minnesota visit, the president forecasted during a speech at the state GOP’s annual Lincoln Reagan fundraising dinner in St. Paul the previous month: “We’re going to win this state.”
The poll also found a large difference in enthusiasm, with 63% of Trump supporters “very enthusiastic” about their candidate compared to 31% for Biden.
Biden’s campaign also pointed to work it’s doing in both states, saying it has a “team of seasoned operatives leading its Minnesota campaign” and that it “has opened six offices across Virginia, with more on the way in coming weeks.”
