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Nebraska Republican nixes GOP effort to change way electoral votes are allocated

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A Republican Nebraska lawmaker has thrown a monkey wrench in to a full-court press by the GOP to change the way electoral votes are counted in Nebraska less than two months before the 2024 Presidential election.

The national face of the campaign has been South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who said on NBC’s Meet the Press: “… one electoral vote could be the difference between [Kamala] Harris being president and not, and she’s a disaster for Nebraska and the world.”

The Washington Post sums it up:

A key Republican state lawmaker in Nebraska said Monday that he does not support changing how the state awards its electoral votes before the November election, foiling for now a last-ditch push by former president Donald Trump and his allies that could have reshaped the outcome of the presidential race.

“I respect the desire of some of my colleagues to have this discussion, and I have taken time to listen carefully to Nebraskans and national leaders on both sides of the issue,” state Sen. Mike McDonnell said in a statement. “After deep consideration, it is clear to me that right now, 43 days from Election Day, is not the moment to make this change.”

McDonnell’s statement caps a months-long battle over the way that Nebraska doles out its five electoral votes — and thus plays an outsize role in the path to the White House.

Nebraska is one of two states — the other being Maine — that awards some of its electoral votes by congressional district. That allowed Joe Biden to pick up an electoral vote in the solidly red state in 2020 by carrying the vote in a competitive House district in the Omaha area.

Trump and his allies have for months advocated for Nebraska to return to a winner-take-all system where the winner of the statewide vote captures all of the state’s electoral votes, likely benefiting Trump given Nebraska’s strong GOP lean.

Such a move could have a dramatic effect on the candidates’ strategies for winning the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the White House. It would block Vice President Kamala Harris’s easiest path to winning the White House — carrying Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District plus her three strongest battleground states: Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

If Harris won those states, and not the other key swing states, a change to how Nebraska gives out its electoral votes could cause a 269-269 tie in the electoral college. If there were a tie, the House of Representatives would choose the next president, with each state’s congressional delegation getting one vote. All House seats are up for election in November, but most observers expect Republicans will have an edge in the number of delegations.

Winner-take-all legislation faltered in the Nebraska legislature this year, but Gov. Jim Pillen (R) has said he could call a special session to try again if the proposal gains more support, reflecting the flux over the rules that continues in a handful of states as the campaign enters the homestretch.

Winner-take-all supporters would need 33 votes — every GOP member in the unicameral legislature — to overcome an expected Democratic filibuster. Without support from McDonnell, who has been eyeing a run for mayor of Omaha, Republicans would be at least one vote short. McDonnell has been the most public holdout, but those involved in Nebraska politics say they think there are others.

McDonnell is a former firefighter who left the Democratic Party to become a Republican this year after Democrats censured him for his antiabortion views.


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