It’s been more than a half century since a Republican won Minnesota in a presidential election, but former President Donald Trump says he’s got “a really good shot” of breaking the losing streak this November in his 2024 rematch with President Biden.

The former president heads to the reliably blue state on Friday, to headline the Minnesota GOP’s annual Lincoln Reagan fundraising dinner.

Trump lost Minnesota by just 1.5 points in his 2016 presidential election victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. But four years ago he lost the state to President Biden by more than seven points in his unsuccessful re-election campaign.

“We think we have a really good shot at Minnesota,” Trump emphasized in a Wednesday interview with KSTP, a local TV station in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. “We have great friendships up there.”

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Trump added that he’s “worked hard on Minnesota” and that “Tom Emmer is very much involved,” as he pointed to the House majority whip.

Emmer, who will join Trump at the state GOP gala, is chairing the Trump campaign in Minnesota even though the former president and his allies helped sink Emmer’s bid last autumn to become House speaker.

As the Trump and Biden campaigns prepare for battle in seven crucial swing states that decided the 2020 election (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which were narrowly won by Biden, and North Carolina, which Trump carried by a razor-thin margin) and will likely once again in the 2024 rematch, both campaigns see opportunities to expand the map.

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Two weekends ago at a closed-door Republican National Committee retreat for top-dollar donors that was held at a resort in Palm Beach, Florida, senior Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita and veteran pollster Tony Fabrizio spotlighted internal surveys that suggested both “Minnesota & Virginia are clearly in play.”

In both states, Donald Trump finds himself in positions to flip key electoral votes in his favor,” the survey, which was shared with Fox News, emphasizes. 

Former President Trump headlines a Republican National Committee spring donor retreat, in Palm Beach, Florida, on May 4, 2024  (Donald Trump 2024 campaign)

And both states have sizable populations of rural white voters without college degrees who disproportionately support the former president.

Biden’s campaign disagrees that either Minnesota or Virginia are up for grabs.

While noting that they are “not taking any state or any vote for granted,” Biden campaign battleground states director Dan Kanninen told reporters last week that “we don’t see polls that are six or seven months out from a general election, head-to-head numbers certainly, as any more predictive than a weather report is six or seven months out.”

Kanninen highlighted that the campaign has teams on the ground in both states engaging voters.

“We feel strongly the Biden-Harris coalition in both Minnesota and Virginia, which has been strong in the midterms and off-year elections, will continue to be strong for us in the fall of 2024,” he added.

And Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt, pointing to the president’s current fundraising dominance and ground-game advantage in the key battlegrounds, argued that “Trump’s team has so little campaign or infrastructure to speak of they’re resorting to leaking memos that say ‘the polls we paid for show us winning.’” 

But Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who launched a longshot and unsuccessful primary challenge against the president, insists that “Minnesota’s in play.

Phillips, in an interview this week on Fox News’ “Special Edition,” argued that Minnesota’s “like a lot of states that I think a lot of my fellow Democrats don’t want to confess is the reality… I’m telling my Democratic colleagues who are supporting President Biden, myself included, that there’s a lot of work to do.”

This is the second straight election where Trump aims to flip Minnesota.

At a late September 2020 rally in northern Minnesota, Trump boasted of the crowd size and insisted “this is not the crowd of somebody that’s going to finish second in this state to Sleepy Joe,” a derogatory term he used for Biden.

While Trump’s campaign looks for opportunities to expand the map in Minnesota and Virginia, Biden’s campaign appears to be eyeing swing state North Carolina as well as Florida. 

Trump carried the Sunshine State by less than four points in 2020, but two years ago Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP Sen. Marco Rubio each won re-election by nearly 20 points.

LaCivita argued the Biden campaign was playing “a faux game” in both states, but insisted that Trump has a “real opportunity in expanding the map in Virginia and Minnesota.”

Trump’s stop in Minnesota comes a week after he held a large rally in Wilwood, New Jersey, a red bastion in an overwhelming blue state where no Republican has carried the state in a presidential election in over three decades. Trump lost the state to Biden by 16 points four years ago.

“We’re going to win New Jersey,” Trump vowed at the rally.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Detroit Tigers right-hander Reese Olson exited Monday’s series opener against the Kansas City Royals in the bottom of the third inning with a right hip contusion.

A comebacker hit Olson on his right hip.

The 24-year-old looked like he wanted to stay in the game after throwing a couple of warmup pitches, but following a conversation with head athletic trainer Ryne Eubanks and manager A.J. Hinch, he ultimately left game after 52 pitches.

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Olson threw a first-pitch 94.4 mph fastball to Michael Massey with two runners on base and two outs in the third inning. The ball — hit with a 101.8 mph exit velocity — drilled Olson in his right hip.

He immediately grabbed his right hip, limping.

Catcher Jake Rogers emerged from behind the plate to field the ball in front of the mound. He tried to make a play by flipping the ball to third base, but there wasn’t a defender covering the bag, so the ball bounced into foul territory and into the outfield. The lead runner scored on the mistake from Rogers, charged with a throwing error.

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After that, Eubanks and Hinch came out of the dugout to meet with Olson. The Tigers replaced Olson with right-handed reliever Beau Brieske.

Olson is scheduled to make his next start Saturday against the Toronto Blue Jays at Comerica Park.

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The comeback that knocked Olson out of the game occurred one inning after he gave up a home run for the first time in 54 innings. He allowed two runs (one earned run) on five hits and one walk with two strikeouts across 2⅔ innings, with the both homer and comebacker hit by Massey.

Olson has a 2.16 ERA with 16 walks and 43 strikeouts across 50 innings in nine starts in the 2024 season.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

The Milwaukee Brewers cannot catch a break. Already thin on their pitching depth with the injuries to Brandon Woodruff, Wade Miley, Jakob Junis and a roster of guys from the bullpen, the Brewers dealt with the early exit on Monday due to back tightness reported by Sophia Minnaert on the Bally Sports broadcast.

The Milwaukee Brewers officially announced that Joe Ross left the game with a low back strain.

Ross left the game after just one inning in which he gave up a walk and a single but got an inning ending double play on a lineout by Jesus Sanchez. Ross threw just 15 pitches.

Jared Koenig came on in relief of Joe Ross to give Pat Murphy a bridge to the bullpen where they could see the debut of Bradley Blalock, freshly called up from the AA Biloxi Shuckers.

The injury is unfortunate as Joe Ross was starting to build some solid momentum as a starter after missing the last two seasons following his second Tommy John surgery. Thankfully Ross’ injury isn’t related to his previous elbow issues, lending hope to a potentially short timeline on recovery for Ross.

Ross had pitched pretty well over his last three games against the Pirates, Royals and Cubs. He has 16 innings pitched and allowed six earned runs with 12 strikeouts and just three walks.

The injury to Joe Ross comes at a bad time for the Brewers who are already starting Bryse Wilson in games despite him spending 2023 and the beginning of 2024 in the bullpen.

The Brewers have also already had major league debuts by Tobias Myers and Robert Gasser. Robert Gasser is almost a guarantee to be a fixture of the Brewers starting rotation for the foreseeable future and has dazzled in his first two appearances. Gasser has thrown 11 innings and allowed just one run on eight hits (all singles) with six strikeouts and one walk.

Should Joe Ross hit the injured list, Tobias Myers is likely a call up to replace him. Myers has made four starts for the Brewers this year, two good and two bad. However, his most recent start was a solid one, four innings of one run ball against the St. Louis Cardinals with six strikeouts but four walks.

DL Hall is also a candidate to help the starting rotation after pitching a rehab appearance with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Sunday and then heading to Nashville to continue rehabbing there. Hall may not be ready to step in for Ross’ next turn in the rotation but as far as the rest of 2024 is concerned, Hall will be a factor.

Other options include Aaron Ashby who is struggling a bit in AAA and Jacob Misiorowski, the hard throwing phenom also in AA where Bradley Blalock was brought up from.

Bradley Blalock was already on the Milwaukee Brewers 40-man roster, making him an understandable call up. Blalock has been starting games for the Shuckers in Biloxi. Blalock has made seven starts and pitched 35.2 innings to a 2.27 ERA with 29 strikeouts and just seven walks. If Blalock can hit the ground running for the Brewers it would be very beneficial to a team dealing with injury after injury, mostly to pitchers.

Thankfully the Brewers have gotten some positive injury news on some other players like Garrett Mitchell, DL Hall and Devin Williams.

Hopefully Joe Ross won’t be missing extended time, forcing the Brewers into already tough decisions about how to bolster the starting rotation and bullpen.