Nebraska governor ends efforts to change how state awards electoral votes, dealing blow to Trump

CNN
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Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said Tuesday he has “no intention of calling a special session” to change the way the state awards electoral votes to a winner-take-all system, ending an effort led by Donald Trump.

The announcement comes after Republican Sen. Mike McDonnell said he would not support a last-minute effort to overturn the law that allocates electoral votes based on congressional district.

“Given all that is at stake for Nebraska and our country, we have done everything we can to make this happen,” Pillen, a Republican, said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to convince 33 state senators. Senator Mike McDonnell of Omaha has confirmed that he is not prepared to vote for winner-take-all before the 2024 election. This is deeply disappointing to me and the many others who worked so diligently to ensure that the votes of all Nebraskans were equally sought in this election. Given the lack of 33 votes, I do not intend to call a special session on this issue before the 2024 election. I am grateful to the many Nebraskans who made their voices heard during this process.”

The statement caps a saga that saw Trump try to pressure Nebraska state lawmakers to change the law in time for the November vote. The Cornhusker State awards two electoral votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote and one to the winner of the popular vote in each of the state’s three congressional districts. Trump won all five of Nebraska’s electoral votes in 2016, but won just four in 2020, with Joe Biden winning the Omaha-area seat.

The fight over a single electoral vote in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, known as Omaha’s blue dot, has become a symbol of how close the race is between Trump and Kamala Harris.

Even if Harris won the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, but failed to win any other key battlegrounds, she would still need the electoral vote from Nebraska’s 2nd District to get the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.

Trump believes he will win four electoral votes in Nebraska, but it is the fifth that has him increasingly worried, leading him and his Republican allies to mount a last-ditch effort to try to change the state’s election law just weeks before the vote. He called a meeting of state senators last week, urging them to change the election law before November.

Pillen, the state’s Republican governor, had said he was willing to call a special session of the Nebraska Legislature before the November election to change the law, but only if there was enough support. An attempt earlier this year to change the law, which is specific to Nebraska and Maine, failed.

The former president commented on the fight in a social media post Monday night, saying: “I LOVE OMAHA and won it in 2016. Looks like I’m going to have to do it again!!!”

Yet Trump and Republicans have spent virtually no money in the district, while Harris’ campaign is spending millions trying to win that single electoral vote again, with a grassroots effort taking place in Omaha yards with blue-polka-dotted signs, a symbol of hope for Democrats in a sea of ​​Nebraska red.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.