Trump Campaign Opening Up the Map With New Offices in Minnesota, Virginia

Donald Trump's 2024 reelection campaign continues to open up the map and is moving further into what the Biden campaign probably considers safe territory. That's an old strategy in any kind of conflict: Make your opponent react to you instead of reacting to them; always keep the initiative and, wherever possible, take the fight to them on their ground. The Biden campaign's home ground in question includes the states of Virginia and Minnesota, where the Trump people are opening up new campaign offices.

The Trump campaign is expanding its ground game in Minnesota and Virginia as it puts President Biden's campaign on its heels in traditionally Democratic states, according to a new internal campaign memo.
The memo, obtained exclusively by CBS News Friday, details that the campaign is in the process of securing leases for eight "Trump Force 47" offices in Minnesota, and 11 campaign offices in Virginia.
"Trump Force 47" is the nickname for the joint effort between the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee's grassroots volunteer canvassing program.
In addition to the offices, the campaign has hired new staff to manage its ground game in Virginia and Minnesota, and is building out teams.

The latest polls have Trump and Biden tied in Minnesota and essentially tied (within the margin of error) in Virginia. That has to be causing some beads of sweat to break out on a lot of foreheads in the Biden campaign.

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Consider the fact that the last time Virginia gave its Electoral College votes to a Republican was in 2004, when the state voted for George W. Bush. The last time Minnesota did so was in Richard Nixon's landslide re-election in 1972. It is conceivable that Donald Trump could take Virginia, but Minnesota, candidly, is a long shot.

That doesn't mean the Trump campaign isn't giving it the old college try.

By putting Minnesota and Virginia on the map, the campaign believes it can add "at least 12 additional pathways to 270," according to the memo, which was written by James Blair, the Trump campaign's political director.
Trump has had his eye on flipping Minnesota and Virginia after several internal campaign polls allegedly showed that Mr. Biden's weakening favorability in those states — coupled with Trump's historic gains with Black and Hispanic voters — could spell an opening for the former president.

It could spell an opening, yes, but more immediately, it's got the Biden campaign playing defense in these states.

The problem the Biden campaign faces (and I've said this before) is that there just isn't any such place where they can open up the map. They managed Georgia in 2020, but Trump is maintaining a narrow but consistent lead there now. The former president is likewise maintaining narrow leads in Pennsylvania and even Wisconsin — if he takes both of those states in November, his victory is essentially assured.

One of my favorite quotes from Carl von Clausewitz is:

Be audacious and cunning in your plans, firm and persevering in their execution, determined to find a glorious end.

One might think that the Trump campaign has been studying von Clausewitz. They are being audacious and cunning in knocking the Biden camp into defense, and they are certainly persevering, through all of the lawfare, through all of the non-stop demonization by the legacy media. And the glorious end?

If current trends keep up, we'll see that in November.