The Trump campaign rally in Minneapolis on Thursday marks the beginning of the presidential re-election campaign’s intense efforts to win the state of Minnesota in 2020.

“It is a full-on major effort state campaign,” Trump campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh told the New York Times in a story published early Thursday morning.

“And we will have the resources behind it to make it count,” Murtaugh added.

President Trump narrowly lost the state’s ten electoral college votes by about 44,000 votes in 2016, the best Republican showing in Minnesota since President Richard Nixon won the state in the 1972 presidential election.

The Times reported in its Thursday story:

Brad Parscale, the president’s campaign manager, is planning to pour tens of millions of dollars into the campaign’s Minnesota operation, compared with the $30,000 the Trump campaign spent on the state last cycle. The campaign already has 20 paid staff members in the state, and expects to expand to 100. And the campaign and the Republican National Committee are outspending Democrats by about four to one on digital advertising, according to campaign officials and local Democratic Party officials.

Democrats are taking note of the Republican efforts and have voiced concerns that Minnesota may actually be in play in 2020.

“Over the last 25 years, I’ve never seen an investment as robust and deep this early by a Republican presidential candidate,” Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party told the Times.

On Monday, Martin and the DFL attempted to raise money off Trump’s visit to Minnesota in a tweet that said:

THREAD: Trump is coming to Minnesota this week to break our blue wall and flip our state red in 2020. That can’t happen. We’re launching a #MoneyBlizzard to make sure we have the resources to fight back against his hateful campaign. RT & Donate: https://t.co/as41eNTLc0

— Minnesota DFL Party (@MinnesotaDFL) October 7, 2019

An earlier effort by the Democrat Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to force the Trump campaign to pay $530,000 in order to hold Thursday’s rally at the Target Center failed on Tuesday, as Breitbart News reported:

The Trump campaign claimed victory late Tuesday in its battle with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a first term Democrat elected in 2017 who wanted the campaign to pay more than $500,000 in security expenses for Thursday’s rally at the Target Center. “The arena in Minneapolis has been fully approved. The Target Center has backed off cancelling the contract, which means President Trump’s Keep America Great rally will go on as scheduled,” Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon. “Consistent with our original agreement with the venue, the Trump campaign has not agreed to pay any additional funds. We look forward to seeing everyone Thursday night,” Parscale concluded.

The presidential election is not the only area where Minnesota is expected to be a battleground in 2020.

Five of the state’s eight congressional districts are “swing seats” that could be switched from one party to another. Three of those seats are currently held by Democrats, two by Republicans.

Should Republicans pick up all three seats, they would only need to flip 16 more in other states around the country to take back the majority in the House of Representatives.

Both supporters and opponents of President Trump are expected to show up in force outside the Target Center prior to Thursday evening’s rally.