Former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will make his first trip to Minnesota this year to headline the state Republican Party’s annual dinner.

Trump will address a room full of party leaders and activists at the Lincoln Reagan dinner on May 17 as he makes the case that Minnesota could be in play in this fall’s presidential election.

“We are thrilled to welcome President Trump back to Minnesota to headline our Lincoln Reagan dinner, an annual tradition that reminds us of the roots of our Party and the leaders who have been most impactful in promoting our American values,” GOP Party Chair David Hann said in a statement. “I can think of no one more fitting to join us this year than President Trump.”

The former president’s visit to Minnesota comes as top Trump officials told donors at a closed-door Republican National Committee retreat over the weekend that they think they can flip Minnesota and Virginia in November, NBC News reported.

“I think that the Biden campaign is deliberately playing a faux game by talking about [how] they’re going to expand the map in Florida and North Carolina,” Senior Trump Advisor Chris LaCivita told NBC News. “But we have a real, real opportunity in expanding the map in Virginia and Minnesota.”

Trump came within 1.5 percentage points of winning Minnesota in 2016 and made multiple trips to the state in 2020 to try to turn it red, but he lost the race to President Joe Biden by more than 7 percentage points.

“By doubling down on Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda, Minnesota Republicans are tying their fate to his in November,” DFL Party Chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “Minnesota voters have repeatedly rejected Donald Trump and his efforts to ban abortion, take away their health insurance, and attack our democracy. Republicans up and down the ballot will have to answer for why they are abandoning Minnesota values and kissing Donald Trump’s ring.”

No Republican presidential candidate has won the state since 1972, but recent polling from KSTP shows Biden and Trump in a statistical dead heat this cycle, with Biden’s lead over the former president falling within the poll’s margin of error.

The dinner will be co-hosted by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who is acting as Trump’s Minnesota campaign chair.

“I could not be more excited to host President Trump and officially kick off our 2024 campaign,” said Emmer. “Joe Biden’s failed policies are showing Minnesotans each day that President Trump is the only choice to lead our country forward. Let’s put America First and win in November.”

In March, Trump told a local radio station that he doesn’t think of Minnesota as “that blue” of a state and he’s going to put resources into winning it this fall if he’s the nominee.