Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump wants to rewrite the electoral map.
“I will win states that no Republican would even run in,” he told the Associated Press this month.
But is it realistic? Can the bombastic billionaire rewrite decades of political realities?
Political strategists – and the Trump team – believe the billionaire mogul’s strong appeal among white, blue collar workers is likely to put states Democrats have dominated for decades back into play, giving the country and its two parties a whole lot more swing states to compete in.
The campaign is staffing up in states Republicans haven’t won in a presidential election for at least 24 years — Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Maine, Wisconsin and Michigan, according to the AP – in hopes of expanding 2016’s battlegrounds.
“It’s always been like, great, Pennsylvania is gonna be a battleground state,” said David Urban, a Republican lobbyist and former chief of staff to the late Sen. Arlen Specter, of his party’s attempts to compete in the state—despite the GOP losing it in every presidential election since 1992. “It’s kinda like and Lucy and Charlie Brown with the football.”
But Urban, who is volunteering for the Trump campaign, said this year is different.
“It’s hard to overstate how popular Donald Trump is in the state,” he told NBC News. “Back in Western Pennsylvania, on the street where I grew up on, there’s union members, teachers, steelworkers and lots of Trump signs.”
Pennsylvania, in particular, seems primed to turn red. In the Republican primary, Trump won every county and nearly all of the directly elected delegate positions – aided in part by 180,000 new Republican voters.
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The state has been leaning red for years, too. While Barack Obama won by 10 points in 2008, he won by just 5 points in 2012. In midterm elections and statewide elections, Pennsylvania routinely elects Republicans. The state has lost nearly 300,000 manufacturing jobs since 2001, making it fertile territory for a candidate who vows to rework trade deals, bring jobs back and boost the working class.
Other states Trump’s team hopes to put into play have also seen big losses in the manufacturing industry. In the last few decades, Maine has lost 42 percent of its manufacturing jobs, Wisconsin has lost nearly 12 percent of the state’s manufacturing jobs (61,000 jobs) while Michigan has lost 26 percent of the state’s manufacturing jobs (210,230) jobs. Minnesota has seen big losses in the rural parts of the state, too.
“These so-called blue states? Look at their legislatures,” one Trump campaign source told NBC News. All five states have at least half of their state government controlled by Republicans; three out of five have Republican governors.
“His comments about restoring our place in this world – that just appeals to a broader group of folks,” the source continued. “The trade thing — let’s bring these job back to America — that’s been a consistent concern of people of either party.”









