Welcome to the online version of From the policy deskevening bulletin that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill from the NBC News Politics team.
In today’s edition, top national political reporters Natasha Korecki and Jonathan Allen examine whether Minnesota could become a real battleground this year. Plus, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker explains how Joe Biden is increasing his reach with black voters.
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Can Trump put Minnesota in play?
By Natasha Korecki and Jonathan Allen
No state screams “blue wall” louder than Minnesota.
It hasn’t gone Republican since Richard Nixon in 1972. Democrats say former President Donald Trump has no chance there.
However, President Joe Biden’s campaign is pushing top local Democratic surrogates — Gov. Tim Waltz and Sen. Tina Smith — to oppose Trump’s appearance at the Minnesota Republican Party’s Lincoln Reagan Dinner on Friday night. First lady Jill Biden also campaigned in the state last month.
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All the attention suggests that both campaigns see Minnesota as an emerging battleground in a race that will be decided in relatively few states. Democrats readily admit that a Trump victory there would spell disaster for them across the country. But those in the party who know the state best insist that talk of Trump flipping it in the fall is overblown.
Walz said in the interview that Biden is closer to winning Texas More than Trump won in 2020 (5.6 point margin). Minnesota (7.1 point difference). It came after Trump famously said he would “never come back” to the state if he lost.
Again, Trump’s loss in Minnesota In 2016, it is less than 2 points making him an attractive target for the GOP. Trump’s top advisers at an event on May 4 in Palm Beach, Florida told the donors In a six-way trial in Minnesota, including four independent candidates, Trump and Biden received 40% of the vote, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received 9%.
In an electoral battleground where few states are actually in play, both campaigns are looking for opportunities to win — or at least give the opposition a strong enough head honcho to spend precious money playing defense. Even with that in mind, Trump campaign officials are steadfast and consistent in their optimism about Minnesota. General Counsel Chris LaCivita called the state “a real opportunity” in a recent interview.
But the Biden campaign notes that it already has a staff and organization in Minnesota, while Trump has had almost no presence this cycle.
“Basically, what we’re doing in Minnesota and Virginia … is not taking any states or any votes,” said Dan Kanninen, director of battleground states for the Biden campaign, in a recent briefing for reporters.
Biden is expanding his reach with Black voters as polls show declining support
By Kristen Welker
President Joe Biden is focused To defend his record with a bloc of supporters he can’t afford to lose: Black voters.
Yesterday, he met privately with plaintiffs in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Today, he spoke at a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Brown’s tenure at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. He and Vice President Kamala Harris also held a closed-door meeting with leaders of the Divine Nine. a group of historically Black sororities and fraternities.
It will be tomorrow to hold an event with Black voters in Georgia before his speech at the historically Black Morehouse College on Sunday. Later on Sunday, he will travel to battleground Michigan to visit a black-owned small business in Detroit and speak at an NAACP dinner.
The Biden campaign released a memo detailing these efforts to reach out to black voters and vowing to “take no voter for granted.”
Biden is losing support among black Americans. In 2020, 87% of black voters supported him exit pollour last nation NBC News survey Now it shows only 71% support it.
Our survey also found enthusiasm among black voters to be lower than among voters overall: 59% of black voters said they were highly interested in the 2024 election, compared to 64% of all voters. It’s also below where black voter enthusiasm has been at this point in the last four general elections.
In my own conversations, Democrats see these numbers as a flashing red light for the Biden campaign. They know the president can’t afford to lose that kind of support among black voters if he hopes to hang on to the White House.
Based on Biden’s schedule this week, they’re starting to see it, too, with four days of events focused on black voters and Black history.
We’ll talk to Maryland, the surrogate for the Biden campaign Gov. Wes Moore on “Meet the Press” this Sunday on all that and more.
🗞️ The best stories of the day
- 🇺🇲 Flag Drama: Senator Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito should recuse himself from work related to the 2020 election after a new report that an upside-down American flag has been flying outside his home for days. January 6, 2021, after the Capitol riot. More →
- 👀 ‘We haven’t heard anything’: Both parties are looking to make gains among blacks in the run-up to the election, but some say there hasn’t been much outreach — and they may not even be able to get out to the polls. More →
- ☑️ Abortion on the ballot: Amendments to the state constitutions of Colorado and South Dakota that enshrine abortion rights have officially qualified for the November ballot. More →
- 🎙️ Controversial: Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., co-founder and co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates, sat down with Politico to discuss Biden and Trump’s rejection of his group’s plans and why the commission is “not dead yet.” More →
- 🗳️ Fall harvest: Republicans have sharply criticized so-called ballot packing, but they plan to begin their own operations in swing states this year. More →
- 🗣️ Elephant-busted? If Democrats retain their slim majority in the Senate, they may have enough votes to override the filibuster for major bills. More →
- 🤯 Heated at home: Thursday night’s House Oversight Committee hearing devolved into personal attacks, with insults about “fake eyelashes” and “bleached blonde, poorly built abs.” More →
For now, that’s it from The Politics Desk. If you have feedback – like it or not – send us an email politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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