Former President Donald Trump said Friday that he won Minnesota in 2020, despite Democratic presidential candidates leading the state for more than 40 years.
“I thought we won in 2016. I thought we won in 20 — I know we won in 2020,” he said during a speech at the Minnesota Republican Party dinner in St. Trump added, “We need to watch these votes.”
The false claim was the latest in a wave of election denial and conspiratorial comments the former president has made since his 2020 presidential defeat.
President Joe Biden won Minnesota in 2020 with 52.4% of the state’s vote, compared to Trump’s 45.3%. The margin between the two candidates was more than 233 thousand votes.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won Minnesota in 2016, although by a smaller margin than Biden. Clinton won 46.9% of the miners’ votes, while Trump won 45.4%.
Democrats have won Minnesota in every presidential election since 1976. In the previous cycle, the state went to Republican Richard Nixon.
During his speech, Trump claimed he would “win this state” in November.
Trump said previously of Minnesota in an interview published by KSTP on Wednesday, “I thought I won easily in 2020.” In an interview that aired on KNSI Radio in March, Trump At first I said of Minnesota in 2020, “I thought we won last time. I’ll be honest. I think we won,” before adding, “We didn’t.”
Biden campaign spokesman James Singer called the former president “disturbed by his defeat in 2020.”
“In 2020, Joe Biden beat him by 7 million votes, including by more than 230,000 in Minnesota – and this November Joe Biden will beat him again because Americans deserve better than a weak, desperate, pathetic loser as Donald Trump as their commander in chief,” Singer said in a statement.
Trump also made a similar false claim about Wisconsin last month.
“We won this state by a lot of difference. It turns out we won this,” Trump said at a rally.
However, Trump lost the state in 2020 by more than 20,000 votes. He won in 2016, becoming the first Republican to win the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Polls suggest Biden and Trump remain in a tight race. An NBC News poll conducted in April showed that 44% of registered voters preferred Biden and 46% preferred Trump in a head-to-head matchup.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
