Despite Gov. Walz’s ascent to presidential ticket, Republicans still optimistic they can win Minnesota

Despite Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the Democratic presidential ticket, Republican officials at a campaign event in Chaska on Thursday continued to express confidence they could turn the state red come November.

“I am so optimistic, I am so bullish,” Michael Whatley, chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), told a crowd of up to 200 people at the party’s Carver County office.

Whatley was joined by RNC co-chair Lara Trump and other local and national GOP officials for the party’s Protect the Vote Tour, which organizes supporters of former President Donald Trump while also recruiting and training poll workers.

Speakers at the event, which also included former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and local conservative commentator AK Kamara, all said they believed Minnesota was up for grabs and would ultimately vote for its first Republican presidential candidate since Richard Nixon in 1972.

“This event, it marks that Minnesota is in play,” Kamara said.

Republicans have increased their attention to Minnesota ever since President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June.

Following that showing, the Cook Political Report reclassified Minnesota from a likely Democratic win to leaning Democrat. And in late July, Trump held a rally with his running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance, in St. Cloud, which attracted 8,000 attendees.

State GOP chair David Hann said at a news conference after the event Thursday the party was in the process of opening eight campaign offices throughout Minnesota.

“We’re going to be all over the state,” he said.

State DFL chair Ken Martin has said the DFL has had more than 20 offices open in Minnesota for months, and he thinks the Trump campaign’s confidence about flipping the North Star state is misplaced.

And recent polling suggests more of an uphill climb for Republicans. A KSTP-TV poll released days before the St. Cloud rally showed Vice President Kamala Harris with a significant 50% to 40% lead over Trump in Minnesota.

Since then, Harris has added Walz to her ticket, who has maintained positive favorability ratings while in the governor’s office. He won his first gubernatorial election in 2018 by 11.4 percentage points and won re-election four years later by 7.6 percentage points.

A January poll by KAAL-TV showed a 55% approval rating for Walz in the state.

Nevertheless, Whatley said party officials are seeing enthusiasm for Trump “on the ground” and argued concerns over inflation, border security and crime would turn voters toward Trump.

Whatley and Lara Trump described the choices in November as “good versus evil” and “strength versus weakness.” They argued that under Trump, the American economy was strong, employment among minorities was low and the country’s international rivals were “in check” — although they did not detail how Donald Trump’s presidency influenced those conditions.

Without Trump in office, Whatley said the country had gone “weak.”

Whatley said Walz would not help move Harris’ ticket to the political center and called their “dangerously radical ticket” alienating to voters.

“We feel very comfortable right now knowing that we are running against the most radical liberal ticket in the history of the Democratic Party and that is not where America is going right now,” he said in a news conference with reporters after addressing the crowd. “This country wants America to be strong.”