‘Don't Minnesota' my state: Land of 10,000 Lakes becomes a political punching bag

MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota has turned up in a Wisconsin school board race mailer. And in endorsements from the president. And in Georgia and Ohio candidates' pitches to become governor.

The references have all stoked the same fear: Becoming more like ... Minnesota.

The North Star state isn't on any ballot, but it's popping up anyway, cast as a cautionary tale by conservative candidates and groups across the country. Following a year of finger-pointing over the state's fraud scandals and a violent federal immigration crackdown, Minnesota has emerged as a political boogeyman - its name invoked far beyond its borders.

Call it the "Don't Minnesota My State" strategy.

Republicans have long criticized the state for its higher taxes and progressive policies. But this trend has put a different spin on Minnesotans' typical relish for some national attention - more "don't try this at home" than "look at how amazing we are." And it comes as Minnesota finds itself at the center of the political universe again and again - from Gov. Tim Walz's failed vice presidential bid to President Donald Trump‘s repeated attacks on the governor and the state's Somali community.

Perhaps not surprisingly, much of the "don't Minnesota" rhetoric has come from - and on behalf of next-door neighbor Wisconsin.

"Don't let Wisconsin become Minnesota," says a post from Trump's campaign apparatus endorsing U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany for governor and Michael Alfonso for Congress, and calling Minnesota "full of FRAUD and TERRIBLE leadership!"

In a social media post, Trump said that if Democrats win in November, the "far left will make [Wisconsin] look like fraud-filled Minnesota."

Tiffany has used Minnesota and Illinois as foils in his campaign, saying Wisconsin is "one election away" from becoming one of its neighbors.

"I refuse to allow Minnesota's madness and Illinois' insanity to take root in Wisconsin," he said.

Even local races in Wisconsin have used the tactic. A mailer in a Germantown school board race, which the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports was paid for by the conservative 1776 Project PAC, more generally evokes fears of Wisconsin taking on Minnesota tendencies: "DON'T MINNESOTA MY WISCONSIN."

Cheeseheads are far from the only folks trying to leverage Minnesota for political gain, though. Lambasting Minnesota has transcended specific criticism, becoming instead a catchall warning dispensed by Republican candidates in much the same way they have used California for years as shorthand for everything undesirable.

In Georgia, an ad for gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson seems to nod to the protests here against Trump's immigration crackdown, warning that distrust of law enforcement is a "woke lie and it might get you killed." It goes on to tell viewers, "This isn't Minnesota."

In Ohio, former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who is now running for governor, promised on Fox News: "We're not going to let Ohio turn into Minnesota."

What explains Minnesota's newfound portrayal as a frozen - if friendly - menace to the republic?

"In some ways, I guess you've made it ... when people start referencing Minnesota instead of New York or California," said Spiro Amburn, a longtime political staffer in Georgia, adding that Walz's time on the presidential ticket brought a sense of notoriety to the state.

Amburn said he hadn't seen Minnesota mentioned in the Georgia governor's race aside from Jackson's ad. But given Walz's profile, he said, it could be a potent talking point to reach Republican primary voters.

"I believe that's why within the last 24 months you've seen Minnesota sort of be the lightning rod on the Republican side," Amburn said.

The ads come after Trump started regularly directing invective toward the state in social media posts and in comments - from calling Walz a slur for people with intellectual disabilities to calling Somalis in Minnesota "garbage."

Timothy Lindberg, an associate professor of political science at the University of Minnesota Morris, said he views the state's emergence in other political campaigns as a phenomenon of Trump "and his particular take on revenge."

Lindberg said it's "almost hard to remember" that Trump nearly won Minnesota in 2016. After Trump lost the state again in 2020 and 2024, the racial justice protests and the resistance to the immigration crackdown, "all of that's gone out the window."

"A lot of it does have to come down to why Minnesota? Because Trump really has a grudge," Lindberg said.

Now, Minnesota isn't just a place. For many on the right, it's political shorthand, a warning - or a punchline.

And it seems unlikely to let up before the November election.

In recent days, the FBI raided 22 sites in the state as part of an investigation into Medicaid fraud, renewing the spotlight - and attention from the Trump administration - on Minnesota.

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This story was originally published May 3, 2026 at 3:08 AM.