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Carnahan meets with Republicans in New Ulm

NEW ULM — The Minnesota GOP held an update at the New Ulm Event Center, Thursday.

The event included an update from local candidates and Minnesota GOP Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan.

Carnahan urged GOP supporters to back Republican candidates. She believed Minnesota could be flipped for President Donald Trump during the 2020 election. This would be the first time since Richard Nixon that Minnesota’s electoral votes went to a Republican candidate.

She said in 2016, Trump came within one and a half points of winning Minnesota.

“People in a million years would have to guess Minnesota would have been that close,” Carnahan said.

There was little national investment in Minnesota in 2016. Carnahan said the single national staff placed in Minnesota was relocated to Colorado because Minnesota seemed like a lost cause. Despite this, the GOP did better than expected in 2016.

Carnahan said in the 2018 election cycle, Republicans had a terrible year nationally, but in Minnesota, Pete Strauber and Jim Hagedorn were elected to Congress.

Carnahan said the Trump campaign has some enough in Minnesota to invest in flipping the state in 2020. In his first term, Trump has visited Minnesota five times.

Congressman Jim Hagedorn and State Sen. Gary Dahms both spoke on the importance of this election. Both compared voting for Biden to voting for socialism.

“(Biden) likes equalization of wealth and that is the direction they are going to want to go,” he said.

Dahms warned that without a GOP majority in the state Senate and state House Minnesota will have state-run healthcare, recreational marijuana and changes in abortion laws within the first six weeks of the new session.

Rep. Paul Torkelson said Minnesota House Republicans gained seats when Trump in on the ballot in 2016, but lost seats when he was not on the ballot in 2018. Torkelson believed with his greater investment in the state this cycle, the Minnesota House of Representatives could get back in the majority to put a check on Governor Tim Walz.

Torkelson encouraged everyone to complete the 2020 Census. Without high census completion, he feared Minnesota could lose a congressional seat.

Redistricted is happening next year and the loss of a congressional seat could make it difficult to keep as many Republicans in the U.S. Congress.

Hagedron, Dahms and Torkelson are all up for re-election on Nov. 3

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