President Donald Trump claimed Thursday that he won Minnesota three times across his three presidential campaigns, telling Newsmax in an extensive White House interview that the state’s voters gave him victories that were never counted. The startling assertion came as Trump laid out plans to campaign in Minnesota before the November 3 midterm elections to boost Republican Senate candidate Michele Tafoya — a move that would put him personally on the trail in a state no Republican presidential candidate has carried since Richard Nixon in 1972.
“Look, I won Minnesota three times, but they didn’t give me the victory,” Trump said during the interview on Newsmax’s Finnerty, hosted by Rob Finnerty. He described the claim as his “strong opinion,” adding, “I won it three times. That’s my strong opinion. I thought there was no way I could lose it.” Pressed on whether he stood by the assertion, Trump answered, “I think I won it three times.”
Trump has lost Minnesota in all three of his presidential runs — by roughly 1.5 points in 2016, about 7 points in 2020, and around 4 points in 2024 — and Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon has repeatedly stated the state’s elections have been free and fair. But with control of Congress hanging on the midterms, the president is treating the North Star State as a personal project, telling Newsmax he had already directed aides to arrange campaign appearances. “I just left literally just before this interview. I told my people to set up one or two,” Trump said.
- What Trump Said: “I Won Minnesota Three Times” in the Newsmax Interview
- The Real Minnesota Results in 2016, 2020, and 2024
- Minnesota’s Blue Streak: No Republican Presidential Win Since Nixon in 1972
- Michele Tafoya: The GOP Senate Candidate Trump Wants to Boost
- Democrats Push Back: “Trump Has Lost Minnesota Three Times”
- Why Minnesota Matters With Weeks to Go Before the Midterms
- What’s Next
- Additional Details
What Trump Said: “I Won Minnesota Three Times” in the Newsmax Interview
Trump’s claim that he won Minnesota three times was one of the most explosive moments of a wide-ranging interview in which the president also lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, accused California of running a “rigged” election system, and questioned the honesty of national polling. On Minnesota, Trump pointed to the enthusiasm at his campaign rallies and his support in the state’s mining regions as the basis for his belief.
“I do great in Minnesota. I call it Iron Country. Best stuff in the world,” Trump said, referencing the Iron Range in the state’s north — a region that was once a Democratic stronghold built on mining and organized labor but has trended sharply toward Republicans in recent cycles. He argued that Minnesota’s election system itself makes it hard for Republicans to win, echoing his broader criticisms of the state’s vote-counting process.
The comments were part of a longer discussion of the midterms in which Trump praised former NBC sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, the Republican Senate candidate in Minnesota. “Michele Tafoya is doing very well. She’s doing well,” Trump said. “I think she’s terrific.” Trump had endorsed Tafoya earlier in the week, telling a rally in Youngstown, Ohio that voters should support the “very respected” candidate while insisting “they cheat on their elections, too. I thought I won Minnesota three times,” according to KFGO’s coverage of the rally.
The Real Minnesota Results in 2016, 2020, and 2024
Trump’s assertion that he won Minnesota three times does not match the certified results. Trump lost Minnesota to Hillary Clinton in 2016 by about 1.52 percentage points — the closest a Republican had come to carrying the state in decades — then lost to Joe Biden in 2020 by roughly 7.12 points, and lost to Kamala Harris in 2024 by approximately 4.24 points, per the figures cited by KFGO and reported by WNFL. No serious recount or audit in any of those cycles altered the outcome.
Trump won 78 of Minnesota’s 87 counties in 2016, a statistic that has long fueled his belief that the statewide result was wrong — but Minnesota’s population is heavily concentrated in the Twin Cities metro area, where Democrats run up enormous margins. The same county map pattern repeats in every statewide race: red across rural Minnesota, deep blue in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and their suburbs. Secretary of State Steve Simon has repeatedly affirmed that Minnesota’s elections have been free and fair.
The 2016 near-miss left a lasting mark on Trump. He treated Minnesota as a personal challenge ever since, pouring resources into the state in both 2020 and 2024 in hopes of flipping it. It remained a Democratic holdout each time, and Minnesota extended its streak of voting Democratic for president — the longest active such streak of any state in the country.
Minnesota’s Blue Streak: No Republican Presidential Win Since Nixon in 1972
Perhaps the most important fact behind Trump’s Minnesota fixation is how extraordinary the state’s Democratic streak is. No Republican presidential candidate has claimed Minnesota’s electoral votes since Richard Nixon in 1972 — a 54-year blue streak that is the longest of any state in the nation, according to NPR affiliate reporting. Minnesota even stayed Democratic in 1984, when Ronald Reagan carried 49 of 50 states and native son Walter Mondale was the only Democrat to hold his home state — famously prompting Reagan to joke that all he wanted for Christmas was Minnesota.
That streak is the backdrop against which Trump’s claim resonates with his base: Minnesota has been the one Upper Midwest state that never fell to him, even as the surrounding “blue wall” crumbled in 2016. In that sense, Trump’s insistence that he won Minnesota three times functions as a statement about the one battleground that got away — the state he came closest to flipping in 2016 and has chased ever since. Minnesota has 10 electoral votes, and flipping it would have been a signature conquest of his political career.
Yet even in 2016, the narrow margin was partly a product of an unusually large third-party vote — roughly 6 percent of Minnesotans voted for right-of-center alternatives that year, exceeding the gap between Trump and Clinton. That context, noted by NPR at the time, complicates the idea that the state was one more visit away from turning red. “One more speech,” as Trump once mused, might not have been enough.
Michele Tafoya: The GOP Senate Candidate Trump Wants to Boost
Michele Tafoya is a former NBC Sports sideline reporter who became a high-profile voice of conservative sports media before launching her Senate campaign in Minnesota. Trump endorsed her earlier this week, and she immediately became one of his favorite talking points — even as her own campaign took a careful distance at first. According to Fox 9, Tafoya’s campaign did not publicly mention Trump’s endorsement for roughly a day, and her ads have struck an independent note: “A senator should work for Minnesota. Not party bosses, lobbyists or even the president. When Trump is right, I’ll work with him. When he’s wrong, I’ll stand up for Minnesota.”
Tafoya has, however, courted Trump-world credentials in other ways. Fox 9 reported that she recently spoke with Trump about the war in Iran, calling on the president to present an exit strategy to the American people — a sign she is trying to appeal to Minnesota voters who may be uneasy about the administration’s foreign policy.
Democrats, meanwhile, have tried to tie her tightly to the president: a campaign spokesperson for her Democratic opponent said Tafoya is “in lockstep” with Trump on tariffs, immigration enforcement, and abortion, and quipped, “Trump has lost Minnesota three times, and Michele Tafoya is about to be number four.”
The Senate race is one of several high-stakes contests Trump is personally engaging in ahead of the midterms. With his name not on the ballot, Trump is campaigning as though it were — telling Newsmax, “I’m running like I’m on the ticket because nobody’s done more than I have,” and warning that losing Republican majorities in Congress could jeopardize his administration’s agenda. A Minnesota visit would be one of the most symbolically charged stops on that tour, given his history with the state.
Democrats Push Back: “Trump Has Lost Minnesota Three Times”
Democrats moved quickly to rebut Trump’s “won Minnesota three times” Newsmax comments. The response from the opposing campaign was the sharpest: “Trump has lost Minnesota three times, and Michele Tafoya is about to be number four,” a Democratic spokesperson said, turning the president’s claim inside out. Minnesota officials have long stood by the integrity of the state’s elections, and Secretary of State Steve Simon has stated repeatedly that Minnesota’s elections have been free and fair.
The pushback also fits a wider pattern. In the same Newsmax interview, Trump accused California of being a “rigged state” where he claimed Democrats receive multiple ballots while Republicans “oftentimes don’t get any,” and declared the polls “all fixed” — comments that drew immediate criticism from Democrats and election officials in both states.
Trump’s broadsides against the polling industry come as his national standing faces headwinds; his approval rating recently hit a new low of 36 percent in a Fox News poll, with Democrats leading the generic congressional ballot by 9 points, per StateLineDaily’s report on the Fox News poll.
Democrats are also betting that Minnesota’s streak will hold because of structural factors, not just history: the Twin Cities metro now holds the vast majority of the state’s voters, and suburban voters there have moved away from Republicans in the Trump era. For all of Trump’s Iron Range gains, the math in the metro remains the tallest hurdle.
Why Minnesota Matters With Weeks to Go Before the Midterms
With the November 3 midterms just over two weeks away, Minnesota has become a focal point of the national battle for Congress in ways that go beyond the presidential fantasy. The Tafoya Senate race, competitive House seats in the suburbs and the Iron Range, and the state’s symbolic value — the one Upper Midwest state that never fell — make it a natural stage for Trump’s closing argument.
The White House is treating the midterms as a referendum on Trump’s second term, and the president’s allies are spending heavily to protect the GOP’s congressional majorities. Billionaire Elon Musk’s reported $276 million commitment to a midterm rescue operation for Republicans, detailed in StateLineDaily’s report on Musk’s midterm spending, shows how much money is flowing into races like Minnesota’s. A Trump visit would amplify that spending with the one thing money cannot buy: the president’s personal draw with the base.
The trip also carries risk. Trump’s election-denial claims energize his core supporters but can alienate the suburban swing voters Tafoya needs in the Twin Cities. Tafoya’s careful dance — welcoming the endorsement while advertising her independence — suggests her campaign understands the tension. And Trump’s week has already featured one high-profile clash with his own administration, when he overruled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, as StateLineDaily reported. A Minnesota rally centered on Trump’s “won Minnesota three times” claim could either supercharge turnout or hand Democrats fresh material for their own ads.
What’s Next
Will Trump actually visit Minnesota?
The president told Newsmax he had instructed aides to “set up one or two” campaign appearances in the state before the November 3 midterms, and he was discussing the trips in the context of supporting Michele Tafoya’s Senate bid. No dates or venues have been announced, but the White House has made a habit of converting Trump’s on-camera trial balloons into real rallies.
Could Minnesota actually flip for Tafoya?
It would be an upset. Minnesota’s 54-year Democratic presidential streak, the DFL’s strength in the Twin Cities metro, and Tafoya’s own careful distancing from Trump all suggest a steep climb. But the Senate map is volatile, the Iron Range keeps trending red, and Trump’s personal intervention could move the needle in a low-turnout midterm environment.
Will the “won Minnesota three times” claim face legal or official scrutiny?
Trump offered no evidence and no new legal challenge; he characterized it as his “strong opinion.” Minnesota officials have consistently affirmed the certified results, and there is no indication of any pending action that could revisit the 2016, 2020, or 2024 counts.
What does this mean for the national midterm picture?
Trump is campaigning like his name is on the ballot, warning that losing Congress would endanger his agenda. Minnesota is one stop in a broader closing tour aimed at turning out the GOP base in key states. Whether the stolen-election framing helps or hurts Republican candidates in swing suburbs may be one of the defining questions of the final two weeks.
Additional Details
Event: President Donald Trump claimed in a Newsmax White House interview on October 15, 2026, that he won Minnesota in all three of his presidential campaigns but was denied the victories, and said he plans to campaign in Minnesota before the November 3 midterm elections.
Key quote: “Look, I won Minnesota three times, but they didn’t give me the victory.” — Donald Trump, to Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty.
Certified Minnesota results: 2016 — lost by ~1.52 points; 2020 — lost by ~7.12 points; 2024 — lost by ~4.24 points. Minnesota’s elections have been certified free and fair, per Secretary of State Steve Simon.