Trump allies push to change Nebraska’s Electoral College law – NBC New York

A key Trump ally is pushing Nebraska Republicans to award all of the state’s Electoral College votes to the state’s winner, a late-stage rule change that could potentially help Trump return to the White House.

Nebraska and Maine are the only states that split their electoral votes by congressional district, and both did so in the last presidential election. In Nebraska, which is solidly Republican, that means one of the state’s five votes is competitively held by a Democrat.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-C., recently met with GOP lawmakers in the state to encourage them to pass the change, which is supported by the state’s all-Republican congressional delegation and Republican Gov. Jim Pillen. The change was discussed earlier this year but fell short of the votes to pass it. Now, with Trump in an incredibly close race with Democrat Kamala Harris, where every electoral vote counts, his allies are taking another step.

“I’ll tell my friends from Nebraska, one electoral vote could make the difference between Harris being president or not, and she’s a disaster for Nebraska and the world,” Graham said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Trump allies have been calling on Nebraska Republicans to make the switch for months, despite lacking the necessary support in the state legislature. But their push is more urgent now that the election is less than 50 days away and Trump and Harris are locked in tight races in several battleground states.

There is a likely scenario in which the election outcome will be decided by voters in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, a swing district in the Omaha area.

This year, if Harris wins the three so-called “blue walls”: Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and Trump wins the four “sunny belts”: North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, the Electoral College result will be split 269-268 in Harris’ favor.

Nebraska’s 2nd District, which four years ago backed President Joe Biden, could give Harris the crucial 270th electoral vote. Or, if Trump wins, the election would end in a 269-269 tie. In that scenario, the president would be chosen by the House of Representatives, and each state’s delegation would get one vote — a scenario that favors the former president.

Five Nebraska Republicans in Congress appealed to their colleagues in the state in a letter dated Wednesday to change the law, saying the state “should speak with one voice in presidential elections.”

Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe took the floor Friday to outline the findings of the agency’s investigation into the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Any legislative change would require Pillen, the governor, to call lawmakers into a special session. In a statement, he said he would “enthusiastically” do so if he received a “clear and public indication” that there were 33 votes in favor, the minimum needed for passage in Nebraska’s single chamber of the Legislature.

Nebraska Democrats have begun voicing their support for splitting the state’s electoral votes by placing yard signs with a blue dot on a white background, symbolizing Omaha County’s potential role as an island of blue surrounded by Republican red in the rest of Nebraska.

Republicans currently control 33 seats in the legislature, but they are not unified in support. One of those Republicans, state Sen. Mike McDonnell, recently switched parties but still represents a district that includes Democrats who oppose changing the Electoral College.

A spokesman for McDonnell told Omaha station KETV on Thursday that the senator “has heard compelling arguments from both sides and so far his response remains the same.”

The system has long embarrassed Republicans, who have failed to force the state to adopt a winner-take-all system since Barack Obama became the first presidential candidate to strip the state of one of its five electoral votes in 2008. Biden was the only other Democrat to win electoral votes in Nebraska’s 2nd District in 2020.