Biden for President

To​: Interested Parties
From​: Ryan Doyle, ​Biden for President​ ​Minnesota ​State Director
Re​: ​Biden for President Minnesota i​s strongly positioned for victory
Date​: September 26, 2020


With less than 40 days left until Election Day, ​Biden for President Minnesota ​is in a strong position to win the North Star State and send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House.

As President, Joe Biden will restore the soul of our nation, rebuild the backbone of our economy -- the middle class -- and unite our country. President Trump has failed Minnesotans. From his mismanagement of the COVID-19 crisis and its economic fallout, to his reckless trade policies, attacks on health care, and broken promises to Minnesota workers, President Trump has made Minnesotans’ lives worse.

Minnesota is ready for a real leader -- and Joe Biden is the right candidate with the right message for voters and the right vision for the future. He cares about issues important to voters, like stopping the spread of COVID, the economy, and health care.

Across the state, we are coordinating with the DFL Party to run a voter contact program focused on meeting voters where they are and having quality conversations. ​Over the past two weekends alone, organizers and volunteers spoke to nearly 56,000 Minnesota voters over a 96-hour period.


Joe Biden is the leader Minnesota needs

  • ●  Joe Biden is best suited to lead Minnesotans forward. Not only will he unify our country, but Joe Biden is focused on beating the COVID-19 pandemic, protecting health care, and building a real economic recovery that brings Minnesota’s suburban, urban and rural communities along. This message is resonating in every corner of the state -- from the Iron Range to the Twin Cities and from Moorhead to Rochester and Albert Lea -- and will keep Minnesota blue in November.

  • ●  Trump’s failed leadership in confronting the COVID-19 crisis has compromised the health and economic well-being of Minnesotans. More than 2,000 Minnesotans have died from COVID-19, and the unemployment rate in all 87 counties rose in the past year due to Trump’s failed response to the crisis. Hundreds of dairy farms in rural Minnesota have ​shuttered​, the Iron Range mines have ​idled​ resulting in massive layoffs, and the number of small businesses has ​decreased​ by more than 17% in the past year. Joe Biden has a plan to get the virus under control and build our economy back better than before.

We're strongly positioned for victory

● There has been a tremendous amount of enthusiasm amongst Minnesota voters in recent elections. While Hillary Clinton narrowly ​won​ Minnesota in 2016 by 45,000 votes (1.5 points), DFL Party candidates continue to make strong gains in key races up and down the ballot. In 2018, Gov. Tim Walz ​won​ the state by nearly 300,000 votes (11 points), and he carried 10 districts represented by Senate Republicans. DFLers successfully flipped two Congressional Districts in the Twin Cities suburbs from red to blue and elected Congresswoman Angie Craig (CD2) and Congressman Dean Phillips (CD3). And the DFL Party ​also won all statewide offices​ and flipped 16 seats to secure a majority in the state House that year. These victories were powered by strong turnout in the Twin Cities, union households, suburban voters -- particularly women -- and rural voters. We intend to continue this trend in 2020.

● Minnesotans know that Vice President Biden is the right choice. He’s currently +10 according to ​Real Clear Politics​ and +9 according to the ​New York Times​. And ​538 shows that Joe Biden has a 9 point lead over Trump. And his lead has been ​expanding in recent weeks. President Trump has not led a credible poll in MN in the general election cycle.
[image RCP poll average]

We aren’t taking a single Minnesotan for granted

  • ●  Even with that solid lead, our campaign is putting in the work to connect with voters across the state of Minnesota.

  • ●  Minnesotans understand what is at stake, and they are signing up in droves to support our effort. Since Labor Day the number of active volunteers has increased 236%.

  • ●  And our volunteers are having meaningful conversations -- neighbors are engaging with neighbors about how Joe Biden will build our economy back better and restore the soul of the nation. In the five weeks since the convention, we've increased our weekly average conversations by 312%.

  • ●  The campaign has hosted hundreds of virtual surrogate events and landed media placements in every market -- speaking directly to kitchen table issues that matter to Minnesotans with leaders they trust. For example, Sen. Amy Klobuchar kicked off a virtual Labor Day week series that featured AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, AFSCME President Lee Saunders, and SEIU President Mary Kay Henry. And Gov. Tim Walz led a suburban community conversation on school reopening with Jill Biden.

We are building a strong and diverse coalition

  • ●  Our coalition in Minnesota includes diverse communities in the Twin Cities, suburban voters, union workers throughout the state and on the Iron Range, rural voters, young adults, Republicans, and Independents in every part of the state.

  • ●  We’ve brought on senior advisors dedicated to rural and suburban outreach, and we’ve hired engagement directors to activate key communities, including African American, Native American, Latinx, East African, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), faith leaders, progressives, women, and rural voters.

  • ●  Our coalitions team is also working to organize weekly phone and text banks and relational organizing trainings for key demographic groups, and we conduct weekly direct voter contact through virtual meetings and events with key demographic groups like African Americans, unions, Jewish, seniors, women, Latinx, college students, AAPI, and rural voters.

  • ●  Over the next 37 days, you will see our campaign continue to engage these constituencies in real and meaningful ways.

      • [image: Minnesota State Senator Melisa López Franzen and local Latinx small business owners during “Nuestros Negocios, Nuestro Futuro” roundtable discussion. ]


  • We are meeting the moment with effective organizing
  • ●  Mobilizing and engaging supporters during a global pandemic is an unprecedented situation, but it has also provided us an opportunity to meet voters where they are. Our phone contact rates are higher than they have ever been, and we are having more meaningful conversations.

  • ●  As the election gets closer, our organizing team continues to ramp up outreach to voters to discuss what’s at stake in this election. Since July, the organizing team has held thousands of virtual events. During the Democratic National Convention, the campaign held 48 organizing events -- reaching every congressional district in the state. As a result, we called or texted a Minnesota voter approximately every second over the course of 48 hours.

  • ●  And organizing virtually has allowed us to reach voters in creative ways. In the absence of traditional rallies to mark the beginning of in-person early voting, Minnesotans -- including Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, and 2018 US Olympic Gold Medal Curling Coach Phill Drobnick -- submitted videos via our Soapboxx platform to show their
    support for Joe Biden.
● Our campaign has also been running an aggressive paid media program, launching ads

in the Minneapolis, Rochester, and Duluth media markets, as well as on Spanish language and rural radio and digital ads targeting our key constituencies across the state.


We are helping voters understand how to cast their ballot

  • ●  Our campaign has launched the largest and best-resourced voter protection program in the state’s history. We hired 7 full time voter protection staff and did so earlier than ever before. They are focused on educating, protecting, and defending the rights of Minnesota voters, particularly in communities of color and rural communities. Our goal is to ensure that every eligible voter in Minnesota can register to vote, access a ballot, vote, and have that vote counted. We have also built a network of hundreds of county liaisons, poll challengers, and hotline volunteers to ensure that all reported issues are handled in a timely fashion.

  • ●  We are also engaging in a large-scale voter education campaign to ensure that Minnesotans know how and when to cast their ballot. IWillVote.com/MN includes new resources to walk voters through the process of casting their ballot, and we’ve launched a robust digital program featuring voters and elected officials highlighting the easy and convenient ways to vote early.

Where we go from here

● In the coming weeks, you will see our campaign mobilize our resources to ensure that Minnesotan can make their voices heard at the ballot box -- whether that is via mail, in-person early, or in person on Election Day. Our campaign began making a concerted push to educate and encourage voters to begin voting early and in-person on September 18, which included an in-person visit by Joe Biden to the state.
[image: Joe Biden meets with first responders in Duluth on the first day of early, in-person Voting.]
● You will also see our campaign continue to meet voters where they are. We will use all of the tools at our disposal -- including our surrogate program, local media engagement, paid media, and more -- to encourage every eligible voter to cast their ballot for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

There are 37 days until November 3rd and ​Biden for President Minnesota i​ s going to use every single one of them to persuade and mobilize Minnesotans to cast their ballot for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

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