Notable Quote of the Day

“One of the most important divides in Minnesota politics is between the diverse, cosmopolitan Twin Cities metro area and ‘Greater Minnesota,’ whose residents often feel short-changed relative to the metro. In 2016, every county in Greater Minnesota got redder, and 19 of them flipped from Barack Obama to Trump.

However, there is a silver lining for Democrats: Several counties in the metro actually got bluer in 2016, powered by formerly Republican suburbs like Eden Prairie, Edina and Chanhassen. Still, it wasn’t enough to counterbalance Democrats’ losses in Greater Minnesota, so the state shifted toward Republicans overall.

So, robbed of the formula that fueled them for so long — an uncharacteristically strong performance in rural areas and among non-college-educated white voters — Democrats are now in serious danger of losing Minnesota for the first time since 1972. It might not happen this year: Biden, after all, leads by 4.2 points in our forecast there. But that is more about Biden’s strength nationally than Minnesota being blue.”

– Nathaniel Rakich, FiveThirtyEight

Election Updates

• Joe Biden is airing two new ads in Minnesota focused on his upbringing in Scranton and health insurance. They are part of a previously announced $280 million TV and digital ad reservation in battleground states. 

• Donald Trump is traveling to Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, where demonstrations against police brutality are taking place following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. According to this schedule, he will survey property damaged during the protests and host a roundtable discussion on community safety.

• Immigrants' List Civic Action is airing an ad in Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, and Wisconsin connecting Trump’s description of the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus” and “kung flu” to harassment of Asian Americans.

• Republican Voters Against Trump is targeting 450,000 independent and Republican voters in Florida as part of an $8 million campaign called Project Orange Crush.

• Six Democratic mayors in Minnesota—Chris Swanson, Larry Cuffe, John Champa, Chuck Novak, Robert Vlaisavljevich, and Andrea Zupancich—endorsed Trump.

• The Free and Equal Elections Foundation interviewed Howie Hawkins about his campaign and third parties on Monday.

Flashback: September 1, 2016

Donald Trump hired David N. Bossie as his deputy campaign manager.