GOP Senate Candidate In Minnesota Suggests State Could Flip Red Due To ‘Crazy’ Urban Liberals

Jason Lewis, the GOP senate candidate in Minnesota, said Saturday he believed the state may flip red in 2020 in favor of President Donald Trump due to the state’s mishandling of the coronavirus and the riots that continue in Democrat-run cities.

Lewis made the comments on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” arguing the North Star state is “sort of a microcosm of the entire country.”

“As the urban liberals become a little bit more crazy, it drives everybody else into Trump country and red country,” Lewis said, according to Fox News.

Lewis added that he believes Trump has the momentum in the state heading into the election, which is less than two months away.

“And especially so since Donald Trump has done the most important thing he could for the GOP, and he’s brought the working man and woman back to the party,” he told the network.

“I think we are going to win, and I think the president is going to win,” Lewis added.

Fox reported that RealClearPolitics moved Lewis’ senate race against Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) from “leaning Democrat” to “toss-up.” The Cook Political Report still labels Smith’s seat as “solid Democrat.”

Lewis is a former congressman from Minnesota who also hosts a radio program.

Trump lost Minnesota to Hillary Clinton in 2016 by just 44,000 votes. The state hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1972. Trump came the closest to winning the state than any Republican candidate in the 21^st Century.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden appears to recognize the importance of the state, Fox reported, announcing recently that he would visit Minnesota in person to campaign and spend millions on advertising in the state.

Minnesota has been ground zero for protests and riots following the police-involved death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd. Video showed police officer Derek Chauvin with his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. Autopsies found fentanyl and other drugs in Floyd’s system.

His death sparked outrage across the country over allegations of systemic racism in America. Protests quickly devolved into riots, with demonstrators looting and burning down buildings, mostly in their own neighborhoods and many owned by African Americans. The riots spread across the country to major cities such as New York, Portland, Seattle, Atlanta, and others, with dozens of protesters and those trying to stop the violence getting killed.

Police have been targeted as well, with multiple officer injuries. In Portland, rioters have burned police buildings.

Since Floyd’s death, protests and riots have also reignited following the police-involved shooting of Jacob Blake, who police were attempted to arrest following allegations that he sexually assaulted his ex-girlfriend. Blake was shot in the back seven times after he disobeyed police orders and reached into the front seat of his car. Investigators later found a knife under the front seat. Blake has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.