Trump to appear alongside his new vice presidential nominee this weekend in St. Cloud, Minnesota – Austin Daily Herald

By Mark Zdechlik

Former President Donald Trump will campaign for the White House in Minnesota this week, claiming he can take a state that is out of reach for Republicans in November.

According to a campaign announcement Tuesday, Trump will appear at a hockey arena in St. Cloud on Saturday night. He will appear alongside his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, who had already planned to be in Minnesota that day for a fundraiser.

The Trump campaign has signaled that Minnesota is important to its national strategy, with Trump claiming that he can place Minnesota in the Republican category for the first time since 1972.

Trump’s top advisers emphasized their chances of winning Minnesota at the Republican Party convention, citing favorable polling and stronger enthusiasm for their party than Democrats had experienced to date.

On social media Tuesday, Trump referenced recent television appearances by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz in which he criticized the GOP ticket.

“They’re making me fight fights I shouldn’t have to fight!” Trump wrote, suggesting he’s rising in the polls.

There have been no independent polls since Democratic President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, making way for Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him at the top of the ticket. Harris is on track to win the party’s nomination during a virtual roll call that could take place in early August.

Trump narrowly lost Minnesota to Hillary Clinton in 2016. Biden beat him by seven percentage points in the last presidential election, but Biden is now out of the race.

Minnesota Democrats say they’ve seen an uptick in fundraising and enthusiasm since Harris won Biden’s endorsement. Walz is among her potential vice presidential candidates.

“The energy here exploded,” Walz said Tuesday morning on MSNBC.

“We’ve all broken fundraising records, but that’s not what I’m looking at: doors are knocking, phone lines are full, people are talking about what’s possible, we’re finally on the offensive, and we want to create an America where we’re all together.”