The Trump campaign reportedly no longer considers turning blue states red a luxury
President Trump's re-election may depend on flipping blue states like Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, and New Hampshire, people close to or involved with his campaign told Politico.
The campaign has always remained determined to win over those four states, but they were once considered luxury add-ons. But now campaign aides, senior administration officials, and GOP donors are reportedly privately acknowledging that it's just as plausible Trump loses Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania to the presumptive Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, which would put Trump under the 270 electoral vote threshold required to win if everything else played out as it did in 2016. Wisconsin, in particular, is looking quite tenuous for Trump, NBC News reports. "Independents are walking away from Trump," said Charlie Sykes, a former conservative radio talk show host in Wisconsin. "That's a big deal."
One of Trump's advisers told Politico that even if the campaign loses two of the Rust Belt states, picking up New Hampshire and one of New Mexico and Nevada would help clinch a second-straight victory. But at the moment, polls show Biden ahead in all three of those states, as well as Minnesota, long considered another possible Trump pickup.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
While Trump's team is coming up with ways to make sure they can get to 270, the Biden campaign says it's "playing offense" and looking to "get in front of a large volume" of voters who supported former President Barack Obama in 2012 and Trump in 2016. Read more at Politico and NBC News.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Massacre in the favela: Rio’s police take on the gangsIn the Spotlight The ‘defence operation’ killed 132 suspected gang members, but could spark ‘more hatred and revenge’
-
The John Lewis ad: touching, or just weird?Talking Point This year’s festive offering is full of 1990s nostalgia – but are hedonistic raves really the spirit of Christmas?
-
Codeword: November 15, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
Trump DOJ sues to block California redistrictingSpeed Read California’s new congressional map was drawn by Democrats to flip Republican-held House seats
-
GOP retreats from shutdown deal payout provisionSpeed Read Senators are distancing themselves from a controversial provision in the new government funding package
-
Catholic bishops rebuke Trump on immigrationSpeed Read ‘We feel compelled’ to ‘raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity,’ the bishops said
-
House releases Epstein emails referencing TrumpSpeed Read The emails suggest Trump knew more about Epstein’s sex trafficking of underage women than he has claimed
-
Newsom slams Trump’s climate denial at COP30speed read Trump, who has called climate change a ‘hoax,’ declined to send any officials to this week’s summit
-
UK, Colombia halt intel to US over boat attacksSpeed Read Both countries have suspended intelligence sharing with the US over the bombing of civilian boats suspected of drug smuggling
-
Trump pardons 2020 fake electors, other GOP alliesSpeed Read The president pardoned Rudy Giuliani and more who tried to overturn his 2020 election loss
-
Supreme Court to decide on mail-in ballot limitsSpeed Read The court will determine whether states can count mail-in ballots received after Election Day
