Can Trump Put Minnesota in Play?: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the rep version ofFrom the Politics Deskan evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s most up-to-date reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.

In on the contemporary time’s version, senior national political reporters Natasha Korecki and Jonathan Allen peep whether Minnesota may maybe presumably presumably turn into a correct battleground reveal this 300 and sixty five days. Plus, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker breaks down how how Joe Biden is ramping up his outreach to Shadowy voters.

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Can Trump put Minnesota in play?

By Natasha Korecki and Jonathan Allen

No state screams “blue wall” louder than Minnesota.

It hasn’t voted for a Republican since Richard Nixon in 1972. Democrats say President Donald Trump doesn’t stand a chance there.

And yet President Joe Biden’s campaign is deploying high-profile local Democratic surrogates — Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. Tina Smith — to counter Trump’s appearance at the Lincoln Reagan Dinner hosted by the Minnesota Republican Party on Friday evening. First Lady Jill Biden also campaigned in the state last month.

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All of the attention means that both campaigns see Minnesota as an emerging battleground in a race that is likely to be decided in a relative handful of states. Democrats readily concede that a Trump victory there would spell trouble for them across the nation. But those in the party who know the state best say talk of Trump flipping it in the fall is overblown.

Walz noted in an interview that Biden was closer to winning Texas in 2020 (5.6-point margin) than Trump was to winning Minnesota (7.1-point margin). That was after Trump famously said he was “never coming back” to the state if he lost.

Still, Trump’s loss in Minnesota by less than 2 points in 2016 has made it an alluring target for the GOP. At an event May 4 in Palm Beach, Florida, top Trump advisers advised donors that in a six-way trial in Minnesota — including four independent candidates — Trump and Biden were tied at 40%, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood at 9%.

On an electoral battlefield where few states are basically in play, each campaign strives to seek opportunities to gain — or at least give strong enough head fakes to make the opposition spend precious money playing defense. Even with that in mind, Trump campaign officials are insistent and consistent in their optimism about Minnesota. Senior adviser Chris LaCivita called the state “a genuine opportunity” in a recent interview.

However, the Biden campaign notes it already has staffing and organization in Minnesota, while Trump has had virtually no presence there this cycle.

“Fundamentally, what we’re doing in Minnesota and Virginia is … not taking any state or any vote for granted,” Dan Kanninen, battleground states director for the Biden campaign, said at a recent briefing for reporters.

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Biden ramps up his outreach to Shadowy voters as polls show hide a topple in improve

By Kristen Welker

President Joe Biden is popping his point of curiosity to defending his account with a fraying bloc of supporters he cannot have the funds for to lose: Shadowy voters.

The day before yesterday, he met privately with plaintiffs from the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Today, he spoke at a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Brown ruling at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. He and Vice President Kamala Harris also held a closed-door meeting with the leaders of the Divine Nine, the group of historically Black sororities and fraternities.

The next day, he will hold an event with Black voters in Georgia, ahead of his commencement address on Sunday at the historically Black Morehouse College. Later Sunday, he will travel to battleground Michigan to meet with a Black-owned small business in Detroit and deliver remarks at an NAACP dinner.

The Biden marketing campaign released a memo outlining these efforts to place out to Shadowy voters and promising that it “will not carry a single voter as a right.”

Biden has been losing support among Black American citizens. While 87% of Black voters supported him in 2020, per exit polls our most recent national NBC News poll reveals only 71% supporting him now.

Our ballot moreover confirmed enthusiasm among Shadowy voters is lower than in the voters at huge: 59% of Shadowy voters mentioned they had excessive hobby in the 2024 election, compared to 64% of all voters. That’s furthermore lower than where Shadowy voter enthusiasm has been at this point in the final four frequent elections.

In my conversations, Democrats see these numbers as a flashing red light for the Biden campaign. They know the president can’t afford to lose this much support among Black voters if he hopes to hold onto the White House.

In line with Biden’s time desk this week, it looks as in the event that they are starting to seek that too, with four straight days of events centered on Shadowy voters and Shadowy historical past.

We’ll get recommendations from Biden campaign surrogate Maryland Gov. Wes Moore about all of this and more on this Sunday’s “Meet the Press.”

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