Trump, GOP make big-city safety worries a campaign issue
President Donald Trump’s campaign is banking on vigorous support in greater Minnesota to give him a shot at flipping a state long in the Democratic column. But the Republican messaging lately has had a stronger emphasis on what’s happening in urban areas, particularly on civil disturbances and efforts to rein in police departments.
When Trump makes his first election-year stop in Minnesota -- a Monday visit to Mankato -- he’s likely to bring up what has been a rocky few months in Minneapolis.
The Twin Cities were at the center of racial justice protests that swept the country after George Floyd’s killing. They were also at the forefront of the unrest that left businesses looted and burned. And Minneapolis city council members made one of the nation’s first pledges to break up the police department.
It was all quickly latched onto by a self-anointed law-and-order president, who has made his own pledge.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
“There won’t be defunding. There won’t be dismantling of our police. There is not going to be any disbanding of our police,” Trump said at the White House in June. “Our police have been letting us live in peace.”
His campaign has aired a series of hard-hitting television ads in Minnesota and elsewhere stoking fears that police cutbacks would lead to an explosion of violent crime. Fact-checkers have labeled the spots misleading.
Trump returns to the topic often, routinely citing the tumult in Minneapolis. It’s helped him at times divert attention from the nation’s struggles with COVID-19 and its resulting economic upheaval.
In 2016, Trump lost Minnesota by about 1.5 percentage points -- a close outcome in a state with the longest streak of backing Democrats for the White House. His campaign has invested heavily in the state for 2020 and already made millions of dollars in advertising reservations deep into the fall.
From contests for Congress to campaigns for the statehouse, Republicans also are tying their opponents to efforts to slash police budgets. They accuse Democratic officeholders and candidates of being complicit in protests that devolve into violence or damage.
The most-piercing attacks often come from those who represent districts far from the Twin Cities, suggesting the messages have potency in greater Minnesota, too.
“The real crisis is the killing, the stabbing, the raping, the looting and on and on and on. That is the crisis of our state,” state Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, said in a recent speech on the House floor.
She said crime, not the coronavirus, is what Democratic leaders should be most worried about.
“Yes my friends, crime is out of control in this state, specifically Minneapolis,” she said. “Perhaps tweeting about wearing masks and social distancing doesn’t leave time for the Democrats to know what crime is going on.”
Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, talks and tweets about “lawlessness” regularly, including a video message aimed at the moves by city leaders in Minneapolis to chop spending on the police department.
“Is that really what you think you’re going to be able to do to stop lawlessness?” Gazelka asks in the video. “We are never going to do that. We’re never going to defund the police. They play a super important role in our society.”
Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent represents a suburban district -- the kind that will determine which party controls the Legislature after November’s election. Kent, DFL-Woodbury, said policing has come up in conversations with constituents.
“Really what I’m hearing is political messaging,” she said. “When I talk to neighbors about that, they have questions about it because questions have been raised. It’s because people are claiming things we’re not saying.”
Kent said the GOP critiques are off base.
“We believe that we need to have good public safety in our communities. We need accountable, responsible police forces in our communities,” Kent said. “ We know that.”
She and other Democrats say there needs to be discussion about the role of police in crisis intervention, perhaps shifting some duties to social service specialists better equipped to deal with mental health issues, addiction or noncriminal behavior.
Republican U.S. Senate nominee Jason Lewis has served notice that pride in police -- his wife is a former cop -- will be a centerpiece of his campaign.
“Core fundamental values and the real basics of what you think a government should do in a free society: Public order, backing the police and making sure the rule of law is followed and not the rule of the mob.”
Democratic U.S. Sen. Tina Smith sees the 2020 landscape differently.
“This campaign is around the huge economic and health crisis that people are living through in this moment, and who they think -- whether it’s their United States senator, their governor or their president -- who do they think has their back in this moment.”