Former President Donald Trump announced Saturday that his campaign will be actively competing in Minnesota, a state no GOP candidate has won since 1972.
The 45th president added that New Jersey and Virginia are also in play as he looks to defeat Democrat President Joe Biden in a highly anticipated rematch of the 2020 general election.
Speaking at a beach rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, attended by an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people, Trump said, “As you can see today we’re expanding the electoral map because we are going to officially play in the state of New Jersey.”
“We’re going to win the state of New Jersey,” he asserted.
“We’re also looking really great in the state of Minnesota, which hasn’t been won since 1952, and we’re leading in the poll,” Trump continued.
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BREAKING: President Trump confirms intention to compete in blue states like New Jersey, Minnesota, Virginia pic.twitter.com/rQEVy5HpPv
— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) May 11, 2024
The former president misstated the last time a Republican carried Minnesota: It was actually in 1972 with Richard Nixon’s landslide win over Democrat Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota.
In that contest, Nixon won every state but Massachusetts, with McGovern also carrying the District of Columbia.
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Trump was right that Republican Dwight Eisenhower did win Minnesota in 1952, as well as 1956. Nixon’s 1972 victory is the only time since then for the GOP.
The Gopher State was the only one that President Ronald Reagan did not carry in his 49 states-to-one landslide in 1984 over former Vice President Walter Mondale, who managed to hold on to his home state, where he had served as senator, by 0.2 percent of the vote.
Minneapolis NBC affiliate KSTP-TV published a poll last month showing this year’s presidential race in essentially a dead heat, with President Joe Biden holding a slight 44 to 42 percent lead among likely voters and 11 percent saying they’ll vote for a third party candidate.
The KSTP/SurveyUSA was conducted from April 3-7 among 608 likely voters.
Additionally, a McLaughlin & Associates poll commissioned by the Trump campaign, which was conducted from April 29 to May 1, has Trump defeating Biden 49 to 46 percent. It was taken among 600 likely voters with a 4 percent margin of error.
A New York Times/Siena College/Philadelphia Inquirer poll published on Monday shows Trump leading Biden in five of the six swing states the president carried in 2020.
Republicans are on OFFENSE in 2024:
📈Trump leading in 5 of 6 Swing States
📈Trump at 50% in Nevada
📈Trump UP 7 in Arizona
📈Trump UP 10 in Georgia
📈New Jersey IN PLAY
📈Virginia IN PLAY
📈Minnesota IN PLAY
📈1M+ GOP Voter Advantage in FloridaAmericans are ready for CHANGE. pic.twitter.com/iHEjHTlDU3
— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) May 13, 2024
The last time a Republican won New Jersey was 1988, in George H.W. Bush’s decisive victory over Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.
And the most recent victory in Virginia for the GOP was 2004, when George W. Bush defeated Sen. John Kerry.
