Trump suggests he can win Minnesota

by Jonathan Swan - 08/20/16 11:18 AM ET

Donald Trump on Friday suggested he could be the first Republican to win Minnesota since 1972.

“If I could win a state like Minnesota, the path is a whole different thing,” Trump told donors at a fundraiser event in Minneapolis, according to the Star Tribune.

{mosads}“It becomes a much, much different race. We’re going to give it our greatest shot.”

Trump reportedly told the donors he has “so many friends” in Minnesota and he said he’d be returning “a lot.”

Minnesotans have not voted in a Republican at the presidential level since Richard Nixon’s landslide victory in 1972. President Obama won the state by about eight percentage points in 2012.

Minnesota has only gone red three times in the last 21 presidential elections: Nixon’s win and Dwight Eisenhower’s two victories in 1952 and 1956.

Protesters pushed, verbally harassed and spat on donors as they left Trump’s Friday night fundraiser, according to reports.

Tags Donald Trump