The Trump campaign announced late last week that the president will hold a Keep America Great rally in Minnesota on October 10.
“Minnesota is booming thanks to President Trump and jobs are coming back to the state. Since President Trump’s election, Minnesota has added 54,500 new jobs including 3,000 new manufacturing jobs, while President Obama lost 5,200 manufacturing jobs,” Michael Glassner, Chief Operating Officer of Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., said in the statement announcing the rally.
“President Trump has delivered on his promises, and he looks forward to celebrating those successes with the great men and women of Minnesota,” Glassner added.
The rally will be held at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Minnesota is a key battleground state in the 2020 Presidential election. In a close electoral college race, the state’s 10 electoral college votes could be pivotal. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the state, but just barely, with a 44,000 vote margin over President Trump, less than one percent of all votes cast.
In addition, five of the state’s eight member delegation to the House of Representatives represent swing districts. Their votes could be influential in the outcome of the impeachment inquiry. How they vote in a potential floor vote could also impact their chances of winning re-election in 2020.
On Saturday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that “pursuing an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump is worth House Democrats losing a majority,” Breitbart News reported, and continued:
Appearing at the Texas Tribune’s Tribune Fest, Pelosi stated it’s more important for Congress to uphold its duty of holding the president accountable than maintaining power over the lower chamber.
“It doesn’t matter,” Pelosi replied when asked by Tribune CEO Evan Smith if she harbors any “anxiety” over the Democrats’ ability to keep the House if their impeachment inquiry goes awry.
“Our first responsibility is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” said the speaker.
“People say you have to take a political risk doing that,” she went on. “That doesn’t matter. Because we cannot have a president of the United States undermining his oath of office, his loyalty to his oath of office, undermining our national security, and undermining the integrity of our elections.”
On Sunday, President Trump confirmed that he believes the impeachment inquiry will play a key role in the outcome of the 2020 House elections in a series of tweets and retweets.
The president added his own spin on Republican National Committee Chairman Ronna McDaniel’s tweet from Saturday that “this is just the beginning of an all-out fight to defend our democracy & our president. Dozens of House Dems campaigned on working with @realDonaldTrump, yet fell in line with Pelosi & the Squad. Voters don’t support this impeachment charade & it’s going to backfire come 2020!”
“Will happen to all of those seeking unlawful impeachment in 50 Trump type Districts. We will win big!,” the president tweeted:
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 29, 2019
The president then retweeted–without comment– the video of talk radio host Mark Levin’s vigorous attack on the impeachment inquiry, in response to a question posed to him by Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Ed Henry.
President Trump liked Levin’s appearance on Fox & Friends Weekend so much he retweeted it two more times on Sunday.
The 2020 battle for the House of Representatives in Minnesota is already playing out as one whose outcome may well hinge on the impeachment inquiry.
In the 7th Congressional District, which covers the western part of the state, Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN) defeated his Republican opponent by only five points in both 2018 and 2016. President Trump carried the district by 30 points in 2016. Though Peterson has not publicly supported impeachment, he voted last week on two occasions to table a resolution that disapproved of Speaker Pelosi’s announcement of an impeachment inquiry.
In the 8th Congressional District, which covers the Iron Range in the north, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) defeated Democrat Joe Radinovich by five points in 2018 after the incumbent Democrat chose not to run for re-election.
In the 1st Congressional District, Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-MN) flipped the seat from Democrat to Republican in 2018 with a narrow victory of less than one percent over the Democrat nominee. Incumbent Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) did not run for re-election in 2018, opting instead to launch a successful campaign for governor.
In the 2nd Congressional District, Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) defeated incumbent Rep. Jason Lewis (R-MN) by five points in 2018 in a district President Trump won in 2016 by one point. Craig is fully supportive of the impeachment inquiry.
In the 3rd Congressional District, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) defeated incumbent Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN) by 11 points. in 2018.
Phillips has already made clear that he is 100 percent behind efforts to impeach the president.
“Phillips is in support of a speedy impeachment process,” ABC News reported on Thursday.
“I can tell you, having had conversations with just about every one of my colleagues, each and every one of us would be willing to lose our jobs in favor of upholding our oath to office and protecting and preserving our Constitution,” Phillips told ABC.
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