Former President Donald Trump said Friday that he won Minnesota in 2020, even though Democratic presidential candidates have carried the state for more than 40 years.
“I thought I won in 2016. I thought I won in 2020, but I know I won in 2020,” he said in a speech at the Minnesota Republican Party Dinner in St. Paul. Trump added: “We have to watch these votes closely.”
The false claim is the latest in a spate of election denialism and conspiracy theories by the former president since his 2020 loss.
In Minnesota in 2020, President Joe Biden won 52.4% of the state's vote to President Trump's 45.3%. The difference between the two candidates was more than 233,000 votes.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won Minnesota in 2016, but by a narrow margin. Mr. Clinton secured 46.9% of Minnesotans' votes, and Mr. Trump secured 45.4%.
Democrats have won Minnesota in every presidential election since 1976. Last cycle, the state went to Republican Richard Nixon.
In his speech, President Trump vowed to “win this state” in November.
“I thought I won Minnesota easily in 2020,” Trump previously said of Minnesota in an interview published Wednesday by KSTP. In an interview that aired on KNSI radio in March, Trump first said of Minnesota in 2020, “I thought I won it last time. I'll be honest with you, I think I won it,” before adding, “I didn't win it. It's going to work out pretty well.”
Biden campaign spokesman James Singer accused former President Biden of being “unfazed by his 2020 defeat.”
“In 2020, Joe Biden beat him by 7 million votes, including a margin of more than 230,000 votes in Minnesota. And this November, Joe Biden will beat him again. Because , because Americans deserve better human beings than weak, hopeless, pathetic losers like Donald Trump, “Commander in Chief,” Singer said in a statement.
President Trump made similar false claims about Wisconsin last month.
“We won this state by a landslide. It's clear we won,” Trump said at the rally.
However, in 2020, Trump lost the state by more than 20,000 votes. He won in 2016, becoming the first Republican to win the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Polls show that Biden and Trump remain in a close race. An NBC News poll conducted in April showed that in a head-to-head race, 44% of registered voters supported Mr. Biden, while 46% supported Mr. Trump.
