There was some news yesterday from former President Donald Trump, who weighed in on two of Minnesota’s statewide races and endorsed Republican candidate Scott Jensen who is running for Governor, and Republican Kim Crockett who is challenging for Secretary of State.
The endorsement came on Truth Social, the Trump-owned social media platform.
While neither candidate explicitly sought the endorsement of the former President, and Jensen has even gone so far as to dismiss national endorsements saying the Minnesota Governor’s race isn’t about national politics.
Both Jensen and Crockett did respond with Jensen saying he’s grateful for any support, and Crockett saying she was “surprised” by Trump supporting her campaign.
The question now becomes, how does this affect both races? Both are relatively tight, but does a former president, especially a president as polarizing as Donald Trump, help or hurt a campaign?
WCCO political analyst Blois Olson, speaking on the WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar, said it’s very complicated especially because of Trump’s history of endorsing candidates who have supported his false 2020 Election claims.
“Republicans as early as this spring at the convention, and then after, openly talked in leadership about kind of avoiding bringing Trump into Minnesota's race,” explains Olson. “They saw it as mostly a negative, a motivating factor for Democrats to come out and vote against Republicans. And by all signs, nobody had been out seeking Trump's involvement in Minnesota right now.”
One thing Trump did inspire was voter turnout says Olson. He brought a lot of energy to Elections.
“I think that there's some who believed that maybe quietly we'd like some Trump energy, there are voters that Republicans are worried that won't show up because Trump isn't on the ballot,” Olson says. “Trump was an energizing factor for Republicans. He brought people to the polls for Republicans that don't traditionally vote.”
However, that same energy showed up for Democrats as evidenced by the record number of votes Joe Biden received in the 2020 Presidential Election.
“He (Trump) energized Democrats, especially in 2018 and 2020,” Olson says. “And so I can only say this is complicated.”
As for the reaction of the Jensen and Crockett campaigns, Olson notes that Jensen’s statement was not fully embracing of the Trump endorsement.
“Jensen's statement is not exactly super excited, over the top about Trump,” says Olson. “It's, ‘there's a lot of people supporting our race, we're grateful for everybody’. That kind of thing. So I think kind of stay tuned because I think Democrats are going to try to use this to energize folks to come out to vote against Scott Jensen.”
While Jensen continues to say this race is not being about national politics, he did appear on FOX News with Laura Ingraham Tuesday night.
Olson also says this opens up both Jensen and Crockett to having to answer questions about Donald Trump’s legal issues.
“The real question is, like many things in this race, how Scott Jensen responds when he's asked about it,” Olson says. “People are going to ask about Trump's legal problems. How does he respond to those? Because to date, when Jensen's been asked, he has said this race is about Minnesota. It's not about national politics. Let's focus on Minnesota. Which has gotten him through the Trump question for months.”
In fact Democrats are already using this for fundraising.
“(Secretary of State) Steve Simon already sent out an email saying, ‘Trump's endorsed my opponent, Kim Crockett’, as a fundraising email,” Olson said. “By the way, Scott Jensen and Kim Crockett may see a fundraising boost from it too. But like I said, it's just complicated.”
Former President Trump’s endorsement of Jensen reads:
“Minnesota finally has a chance to have a great Governor. His name is Dr. Scott Jensen, the Republican Gubernatorial Candidate, and he will bring Minnesota back from the brink. Strong on both fighting Crime and delivering Solid and Sensible Education, the results will be quickly seen - and there won’t be any more fiery takeovers of police precincts.
Minnesota will be Great Again. Dr. Scott Jensen has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
While that statement focused on public safety and crime, both clear issues for voters in the 2022 Elections, Trump’s endorsement of Crockett mentions Election Fraud in Minnesota without any clear evidence. There has been no widespread fraud found in Minnesota’s 2020 Election.
Former President Trump’s endorsement of Crockett reads:
"A strong and wonderful woman named Kim Crockett is running, as the Republican Nominee, for Secretary of State in Minnesota, a State where Election Fraud is rampant, but where nothing is done about it or, more importantly, to FIX IT. Kim will get to the bottom of that, and so much else. It’s time we had a smart and dedicated fighter in that very important position. Kim Crockett has my Complete & Total Endorsement. She will not let you down!!!”
There was a reply to these endorsements from Minnesota DFL Party Chair Ken Martin:
“Scott Jensen has embraced the Big Lie, even calling for throwing our Secretary of State in jail. Now, Donald Trump has rewarded him with an endorsement. Fortunately, voters who don’t want their governor to jail their political enemies and spread dangerous lies about our elections can prevent that from happening in Minnesota by re-electing Tim Walz.”
Blois Olson hosts "Sunday Take" every Sunday morning 9:00-10:00 and appears at 6:20 each weekday on the WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar.
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