Analysis: MN Historically More Competitive Than You Might Think

UNDATED -- Minnesota has long been known as a reliably blue state for Democratic Presidential candidates. The state's current streak of voting for Democratic Presidential nominees in 11 consecutive cycles is the longest outside the south in party history.

Eric Ostermeier is with the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. He says if you look at the numbers, however, we've been more competitive than you might think with the average victory margin just seven points.

Donald Trump barely lost to Hillary Clinton in Minnesota in 2016 (45 percent to 46 percent), and he's spent a lot of time and effort trying to win the state this year. Ostermeier says he thinks that will be a tough task.

It's difficult for me to see Minnesota flipping red while states like Michigan and likely Wisconsin are flipping blue this cycle.

Ostermier believes the Trump campaign's focus on Minnesota is an effort to try and play offense and gain states they lost in 2016, instead of just playing defense and trying to defend the state's he won.

Another reason why Minnesota has been on the GOP's radar is in the 2018 midterms there were only two congressional districts that Republicans flipped from blue to red and they were both in Minnesota, the 8th District up north, and the 1st District down south.