Trump, Biden set to campaign in Minnesota same day
President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger former Vice-President Joe Biden will visit Minnesota next Friday September 18, 2020, in separate campaign stops.
Next Friday’s visits follow those of surrogates and family members of both major candidates before the start of early voting in a state that could be critical in the November election.
The Trump campaign announced on Thursday that he would host a “Great American Comeback Event” in Bemidji; Biden’s campaign said only that the former vice president would campaign in Minnesota but released no further details.
Biden will be visiting the state for the first time as a Democratic nominee for president while Trump has traveled to the Twin Cities and Mankato last month.
In an uncommon way, the two major party presidential candidates will be converging on Minnesota for political campaigns two months before an election, suggesting that the state has become a strategic milepost for both campaigns.
Biden’s wife Jill Biden visited the state on Wednesday to campaign before the candidate’s trip next Friday.
Trump’s visit also follows stops by several family members: daughter-in-law Lara Trump campaigned in MinnesotaThursday, his son Donald Trump Jr. was in the state on Wednesday and Vice President Mike Pence recently campaigned in Duluth.
The Midwestern campaign swing means a new phase in the Biden campaign, which until recently had largely avoided in-person travel with an alternative of virtual events in view of the novel coronavirus infection.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris attended a virtual Minnesota roundtable earlier this month.
Minnesota Republicans have attacked Biden’s absence, noting that it has been more than 1,000 days since he has been in the state, which Trump narrowly lost in 2016.
Since assuming office, Trump has been back to Minnesota five times, with a determination to win a state he lost by fewer than 45,000 votes to Hillary Clinton.
The flurry of campaign stops by Trump, Biden and others suggests the state’s importance in the race for the presidency
In spite of long being a Democratic stronghold in presidential politics, Minnesota has become a focus of the Trump campaign’s efforts.
Trump ’s campaign has devoted significant resources to wooing rural white voters, particularly in northern Minnesota.
Last week saw both Trump’s and Biden’s campaign stops in Kenosha, Wis., the scene of violent protests over the recent police shooting of an unarmed Black man.
A Morning Consult poll made public Wednesday illustrated Joe Biden with a 5-point edge over Trump in Minnesota, but Biden’s lead has narrowed from previous polls.
But another release Wednesday, by SurveyUSA for KSTP-TV, showed Biden with a 9-point lead.
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