Trump campaign talks up his prospects of flipping 2 states

Donald Trump’s campaign sought to stir enthusiasm among prospective donors to his White House bid, contending that the ex-president has a chance to go on offense and expand the electoral map.

Trump’s team said its polling shows he has a chance to win Minnesota and Virginia, according to two donors who heard the presentation at a retreat in Palm Beach, Florida.

President Joe Biden, who’s headed for a rematch for the presidency with Trump in November, carried both states decisively in 2020. Richard Nixon was the last Republican candidate to win Minnesota in 1972 and no Republican has carried Virginia since George W. Bush in 2004.

Trump, who was in court four days this week in the first criminal trial against a former president, leads Biden in most national and swing-state polls, including six of seven states in the latest Bloomberg News/Morning Consult survey. But he trails his Democratic rival by almost $100 million in campaign cash as of April.

Casting his prospects as potentially expanding the electoral map for Republicans is part of a strategy to persuade donors that they’d be placing a winning bet on the former president. Trump eyed Minnesota as a potential flip in 2020 before losing the state to Biden, in part because his campaign hit a cash crunch during the crucial closing stretch of the cycle.

Trump’s reelection campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The Biden campaign derided Trump’s chances in the two states and questioned the reliability of his internal polling, saying he lags in campaign operations in battleground states. “We’ll see how that translates in November,” campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said by email.

Biden is ahead in the most recent independent polls in Virginia and Minnesota, according to ABC News compilations.

Trump’s team has planned seven fundraisers in May in locations including New York, Cincinnati, Houston and Dallas as well as Wildwood, New Jersey, and Lexington, Kentucky.