Yes, Trump. Jeff Johnson is not Trump (he's not "populist") and Tim Walz is not Hillary Clinton. I don't see why Walz would have any problem doing what every other DFL Gubernatorial candidate in decades has done, especially with Trump now unpopular.
Uhh... Mark Dayton was the first DFL to be elected since 1986, I have no idea what "decades" you're talking about (in fact, we've only once elected a DFL candidate three elections in a row, and that was a popular Governor running for three terms).
I'm talking about the 8th, not the whole state.
Pawlenty never won it, and it voted DFL over Norm Coleman and Ventura. Also no non-Trump Republican for any office has won it in decades aside from that brief stint with Chip Cravaack.
Also how on Earth does Walz lose his district, CD-4 be more Democratic than CD-5 (WTF?) and Johnson break 35% in CD-5?! Republicans are lucky to break even a quarter of the vote in the fifth. And "the state winds are well against Walz", huh?
I see what you're getting at. Here's an explanation.
- Just because CD1 is Walz's home district does give him an advantage, but does not mean he'll win. He won by 0.8% in 2016 against a lukewarm Republican and between the fact that he's not running for re-election and the district is trending Republican like the state, it's not good news for him there.
- CD5 is another one I'm not totally sure about, but I think Johnson will be stronger there because it's his home turf. We shall see however.
- Yes, the state winds are well against Walz despite the national environment. If it were Murphy on the ballot it would be a very competitive race and not because she's a weak candidate. Alongside Maine, West Virginia, and Rhode Island, we're the one of the most GOP-trending states.