DULUTH, Minn. – Vice President Mike Pence was refused permission to land at the city-owned Duluth airport for a Trump campaign rally October 26. In a memo to the Duluth Airport Authority, the airport’s executive director, Tom Werner, said that he had rejected a Pence rally application for a rally. Why? Because President Trump had flouted state coronavirus guidelines at the airport three weeks earlier. The memo was obtained by news reporter Katie Galioto of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In the memo Werner quoted from his response from the Trump campaign four days ahead of the rally planned for Pence. “The Trump Campaign is in breach of their previous agreement with the DAA on a couple of significant items,” Werner wrote. “Therefore, I will not allow the event to take place at our airports.” The Trump campaign moved he rally 75 miles to Hibbing.
Trump rally
Duluth airport
September 30
Crowd estimate: 3,000
State allowed max: 250
Masks: Hardly any
Distancing: None
Pence rally
Hibbing airport
October 26
Crowd estimate: 650
State allowed max: 250
Masks: Hardly any
Distancing: None
What happened when
Pre-Trump rally: The Trump campaign signed a contract agreeing to follow the state’s capacity rules, which were designed to slow the spread of the virus.
Staff emails: In e-mails and other documents, local officials shared concerns that Trump would ignore crowd capacity restriction but that holding the campaign to its word was problematic.
Werner email to Duluth officials: Airport staff discussed a lack of resources to enforce crowd limits and other virus-related guidelines like masking and distancing.
A statement after Trump rally: An airport spokesperson said: “It was made clear to the Trump Campaign, in the lead up to the event, that compliance with the State of Minnesota’s current public health executive orders was an expectation of the DAA.”
Post-rally letter: Steven Hanke, in the Duluth city attorney’s office, notified the Trump campaign that it breached the contract by exceeding crowd limits and failing to require attendees to wear masks and practice social distancing.
Werner denying Pence rally request: “The Trump Campaign is in breach of their previous agreement with the DAA on a couple of significant items. Therefore, I will not allow the event to take place at our airports.”
How voters voted November 3: St. Louis County, which includes Duluth and Hibbing):
Biden-Harris 67,708 (57%)
Trump-Pence 49,016 (41%)
The journalism: Katie Galioto of the Minneapolis Star Tribune obtained relevant correspondence by using public access law.
Werner: No to the Pence rally because of Trump violations of previous agreement on crowd size and other public health standards.