Donald Trump is ramping up his campaign efforts in Minnesota — a historically Democratic state that Trump believes he could win over this year.
Trump is scheduled to host a rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, along with his running mate JD Vance, with expectations of facing Vice President Kamala Harris in November rather than President Joe Biden.
Earlier in the day, Trump spoke at a bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee, where he outlined his plans to fully embrace cryptocurrency if elected, aiming to make the U.S. a “bitcoin superpower.”
In May, Trump headlined a GOP fundraiser in St. Paul, emphasizing his potential to win the state and making direct appeals to the iron mining region in northeast Minnesota, hoping to sway blue-collar and union workers who have traditionally voted Democratic.
The campaign views Vance, an Ohio senator, as instrumental in reaching out to this demographic, given his Midwestern Rust Belt roots.
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Appealing to Midwesterners and union workers has also propelled Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz into consideration as a potential running mate for Vice President Harris.
Minnesota is a state where Trump fell just short of winning in 2016, losing to Hillary Clinton by 1.5 percentage points. However, in 2020, Joe Biden secured a bigger Democratic victory, defeating Trump by over 7 percentage points.
Despite these results, Trump remains optimistic about his chances in the state.
In a memo last month, Trump’s political director James Blair labeled Minnesota as a battleground where Trump outperformed Biden, leading to the recruitment of staff and the planned opening of eight campaign offices in the state.
The campaign did not confirm whether these offices are operational as of Friday.
Recently, Republican congressional candidate Tayler Rahm withdrew from his primary race to join Trump’s campaign in Minnesota as a senior adviser.
“The Biden – Harris Administration has been so disastrous, and Democrats are in such disarray, that not only is President Trump leading in every traditional battleground state, but longtime blue states such as Minnesota, Virginia, and New Jersey are in play,” said Karoline Leavitt, the national press secretary for Trump’s campaign.
Contrarily, Lexi Byler, the Harris campaign’s communications director in Minnesota, believes Trump and Vance are out of touch with the state’s values and that Minnesota will not be won by a Republican presidential candidate this year.
Trump’s rally in St. Cloud is set to take place at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, a 5,159-seat arena.
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Following the assassination attempt at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump has shifted to hosting events indoors. However, he announced plans to resume outdoor events on social media, indicating increased security measures by the Secret Service.
During the bitcoin conference, Trump pledged to establish the U.S. as the “crypto capital of the planet” and create a bitcoin strategic reserve. He criticized the Biden administration’s regulatory approach to cryptocurrency, advocating for domestic production of digital tokens.
While Trump previously expressed skepticism towards cryptocurrencies, he now supports them, even incorporating this stance into the Republican National Committee platform. His campaign has also started accepting donations in cryptocurrency.
