By all accounts, Wednesday night’s Trump rally was a major success for Pete Stauber. First, President Trump is wildly popular in the Eighth District. Next, Stauber got a ton of positive attention during the campaign rally. Third and perhaps most importantly, President Trump drew a ton of people to the rally. Check out the people gathered at a parking ramp near the arena:

So sorry, people wanting to get into the already packed arena - I LOVE YOU ALL! pic.twitter.com/PFvXrsvgkA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2018

Stauber’s campaign manager must’ve smiled after seeing that picture. Stauber’s campaign manager must’ve been pleased to see Pete handle the big spotlight this beautifully, too:

That doesn’t guarantee a Stauber victory this fall but it’ll guarantee him tons of favorable press. This report noted something incredible:

At least 25 percent of the audience was under the age of 30, and around 40 percent were women. The senior citizen percentage was less than 10 percent — the lowest I’ve ever seen at a Republican event. Other than the hundred or so party leaders, this was a vastly different crowd from the Minnesota Republican Convention that I attended in Duluth three weeks ago. None of the attendees I spoke with in the concession line at the rally were politically active (other than voting) and none were born-and-bred Republicans.

If that’s the case, then I’m inclined to move this race from the toss-up category to the slightly leans GOP category. That isn’t good news for the DFL because they’ve got 3 top-tier candidates who are beating the daylights out of each other through the mid-August primary.