UPDATE: Trump arrives in Minnesota, thousands of supporters rally

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has said in recent days that Minnesota is his to win, will make his first public visit to the state during a rally Sunday afternoon.

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Hours before Trump arrived for the rally, thousands of supporters streamed into a airplane hangar where the candidate was scheduled to arrive at 2 p.m.

Trump was due to fly in from an Iowa rally to end Minnesota’s three-decade-long record of voting for presidential Democrats.

Why they came: Voices of Donald Trump supporters at Minnesota rally

The venue, an airplane hangar near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, had space for about nine thousand people. With long lines at security and difficult parking, many of the more than 17,000 people who filled out a form for tickets were unlikely to get in.

“Minnesota will be the land of 10,000 miracles,” former U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann told the crowd.

The attendees were a mix of longtime Republicans, independents and those new to politics.

Ryan Hoglund, a 17-year-old from Plymouth, won’t be old enough to vote Tuesday, but is cheering for Trump anyway. He likes the Republican nominee’s positions on immigration and ISIS, and believes the businessman will come from behind to win Tuesday.

“I think Trump’s going to pull away,” Hoglund said. “He’s going to take Florida and Michigan, and I think he’s going to take Minnesota with his stop here today.”

Douglas Lanz and Peter Pentz, both 31-year-old Minneapolis entrepreneurs, both supported Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders earlier this year — they’re now Trump supporters.

“I’m voting for Trump for the same reason I voted for Bernie. TPP, NAFTA are very destructive,” said Pentz. Both men, he said, will root out corruption in politics. “Bernie and Trump represent that sea change of we need to get rid of all this stuff.”

Lanz said his switch from Sanders to Trump wasn’t hard, “after Bernie jumped on the Hillary train. As he soon as he did that, I feel like he betrayed the whole movement.”

The two said they aren’t Democrats or Republicans — both like the more Libertarian views of Ron and Rand Paul.

COULD TRUMP WIN MINNESOTA?

“I think he has a shot because of Jesse Ventura,” Pentz said, referencing the 1998 surprise win by the Independence Party governor. “Independents, they’re skeptical. They don’t listen to anybody. They don’t listen to the media the way the media wants them to. They same thing happened to Jesse Ventura.”

Trump’s not the only member of his ticket who will be visiting Minnesota before Election Day, either. Vice-presidential nominee Gov. Mike Pence will have a rally at the Duluth airport at 9:30 a.m. Monday.

The quick visit puts Trump’s face behind his claim that he can win Minnesota, which last voted for a Republican presidential candidate in 1972, along with other traditionally Democratic states. The visit also gives Trump access to the crucial voters of western Wisconsin, a swing state in nearly every poll.

“I think it’s a strong signal that Minnesota is more in play than people might imagine,” Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Keith Downey said. “Donald Trump would not be coming to Minnesota if he didn’t think he could make a difference and actually perhaps pull off a victory here in Minnesota.”

Minnesota polling has shown Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton with a lead in the single digits, but Downey said the election has been moving in Republicans’ direction both here and nationwide.

Jason Lewis, the Republican congressional nominee in the south-suburban 2nd Congressional District, said he hoped Trump’s visit reflected inside information about how Minnesota was trending.

“I’m hoping they’ve got some information that suggests the ground is swelling,” Lewis said. “I do think they sense something or they wouldn’t be doing it.”

Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin said Democrats would continue their three-decade streak of winning Minnesota, regardless of Trump’s visit.

“Obviously, he wouldn’t be coming here if he didn’t think he could make a difference for his campaign,” Martin said. “I can tell you, while he’s out at a campaign rally at a hangar at an airport in Minneapolis, we’re going to have thousands of people out at the doors talking to voters, like we have for months.”

Martin said Trump’s visit might hurt him more than it helps.

“As we’ve been going around to rallies and telling people that Donald Trump’s coming to Minnesota, it’s getting people more fired up,” Martin said.

Pence’s rally comes as Republicans hope to make gains in northeastern Minnesota. Polls have shown Trump doing well in the traditionally Democratic Iron Range, and Republican Stewart Mills is locked in a close race there with Democratic Rep. Rick Nolan.

Trump visited Minnesota once during his campaign, for an August fundraiser in downtown Minneapolis. The Republican nominee did not hold a public rally during that visit.

The rally was arranged at the last minute. Downey was initially unaware of Trump’s visit when asked about it by a Pioneer Press reporter Saturday morning, though he received details shortly afterward.

This story has been updated and expanded.