Republicans’ try to dam all of Nebraska’s electoral votes for former President Donald Trump appeared doomed Monday when a state lawmaker withdrew his essential help for the transfer from supporters.
Republican Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha mentioned in a press release that he opposes awarding Nebraska’s 5 electoral votes on a winner-take-all foundation, as 48 different states do. Nebraska and Maine award two electoral votes to the candidate who wins statewide and one vote to the winner in every congressional district.
McDonnell’s place means Republicans do not have the two-thirds majority they want in Nebraska. single legislature, unicameral to result in change forward of the November 5 elections.
Here’s why Trump’s allies have been pushing for change, what it will take to make it occur, and why a single state lawmaker is within the nationwide highlight.
Why One of Nebraska’s Electoral Votes Matters This Year
Nebraska is one among 9 states the place Republican candidates have received each presidential election since 1964, nevertheless it hasn’t had a winner-take-all rule since 1991. And more often than not since 1991, Republican candidates have nonetheless received all the state’s votes.
But in 2020, Democrat Joe Biden wins the vote for the 2nd Congressional District within the Omaha space. President Barack Obama did so in 2008.
A presidential candidate wants 270 of the 538 electoral votes to win. One state of affairs is that Democrat Kamala Harris, the vice chairman, wins the battlegrounds of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, whereas Trump wins the opposite 4: North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. Harris would have 269 electoral votes to Trump’s 268, which would come with 4 from Nebraska.
In that state of affairs, a Trump victory in Nebraska’s 2nd District would create a 269-269 tie and ship the ultimate determination to the U.S. House of Representatives, the place every state would have one vote, a scenario that might favor Trump. If Harris wins the district, she would develop into president.
In the 2nd District, Republicans have solely a slim benefit in voter registration, and 25 p.c of its voters are unaffiliated with any occasion.
What Nebraska Legislature Says
McDonnell mentioned he informed Republican Gov. Jim Pillen that he wouldn’t help a change to Nebraska’s electoral vote counting regulation earlier than this 12 months’s election. That’s in line with what he mentioned beforehand.
Lawmakers are out of session and never scheduled to reconvene till January, so Pillen must name them right into a particular session. He mentioned he wouldn’t try this with no clear indication {that a} measure could be coming to his desk.
“After cautious consideration, it’s clear to me that now, with 43 days to go till the election, shouldn’t be the precise time to make this modification,” McDonnell mentioned.
McDonnell is term-limited and can go away workplace in early January. He mentioned he’s encouraging Pillen and the Legislature to suggest an modification to the state structure subsequent 12 months on how Nebraska allocates its electoral votes, in order that voters have the ultimate say.
“The ultimate say in how to decide on a president belongs to the voters of Nebraska, to not politicians of both occasion,” McDonnell mentioned.
Nebraska Republicans have needed to return to winner-take-all rule for years, however they’ve been unable to realize a supermajority within the legislature.
Why the main focus has fallen on a single state senator
Officially, the Nebraska Legislature is nonpartisan. However, self-identified Republicans maintain 33 of the 49 seats, a two-thirds majority.
The GOP reached that margin in April, when McDonnell switched events, citing Democratic Party censure of him final 12 months for supporting abortion restrictions.
The shift has Trump loyalists within the Nebraska GOP agitating for a return to a winner-takes-all system. Trump allies and even the previous president himself have lately pressured Republican officers to attempt.
But in McDonnell’s fifth Legislative District, almost 45 p.c of voters are registered Democrats, and their occasion staunchly opposes a return to winner-take-all. Less than 26 p.c of voters within the district are Republican.
Why supporters wanted a two-thirds majority
Under the Nebraska Constitution, new legal guidelines don’t take impact till three months after lawmakers recess, too late for the proposal to have any affect on the Nov. 5 election.
The state structure permits the legislature so as to add an emergency clause to make a regulation go into impact instantly, however a invoice with an emergency clause have to be authorized by a two-thirds majority.
The legislature’s guidelines additionally require the identical two-thirds majority to finish a filibuster that blocks a measure.
How Nebraska Became an Outlier
Supporters of eliminating the winner-take-all rule in 1991 argued that it will higher replicate voters’ views and entice candidates to a state that might in any other case have been ignored.
The change narrowly handed the Legislature throughout the first 12 months of then-Democratic Gov. Ben Nelson. Nelson was the final Democrat to win a gubernatorial race, when voters re-elected him in 1994.
