The Cornhusker State is one of just two that award electoral votes on the basis of who wins a U.S. House district. Vice President Kamala Harris is leading in one of three districts.
OMAHA, Neb. (CN) — Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen announced Tuesday there would be no special session in the state’s unicameral Legislature to change the method of allocating its electoral votes to a winner-take-all system, the method followed by every other state in the union, save Maine.
The decision wasn’t much more than a formality after Monday, when Republican state Senator Mike McDonnell announced he would not support the change.
“Unfortunately, we could not persuade 33 state senators. Senator Mike McDonnell of Omaha has confirmed he is unwilling to vote for winner-take-all before the 2024 election,” the Republican governor said in a statement late Tuesday morning. “That is profoundly disappointing to me and the many others who have worked so earnestly to ensure all Nebraskans’ votes are sought after equally this election.”
The practice dates to 1991, when LB 115 passed the Legislature 25-23. It was quickly signed by then-Governor Ben Nelson, a Democrat.
A Pillen-supported effort that began this year to change the system sputtered and stalled, with the governor announcing Sept. 13 he would not call a special session to change the system unless he knew going in he had the 33 votes needed to overcome a filibuster by Democrats. He did not then believe he had them.
But the effort gained new life last week as GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump threw his weight behind the effort. Trump spoke on the phone with state senators. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina even flew into the Cornhusker State to twist arms.
But in the end, it didn’t matter. A two-thirds majority would have needed to overcome a filibuster in order to pass the change. McDonnell was the third Republican to say he would not go along with the Trump-backed proposal, leaving the plan at least one vote short.
This means Nebraska’s system of awarding electoral votes by U.S. House district is almost certain to survive at least through the November presidential election.
If the Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris wins the “Blue Wall” states in the Midwest and East like Wisconsin and Michigan but loses Sunbelt states like Georgia and North Carolina, she could need a single electoral vote from Nebraska to put her over the top.
Nebraska might just provide it. While the conservative state has a long history of voting Republican and as a whole is almost certainly going to go into the Trump column, its 2nd U.S. House District, which includes Omaha and some surrounding areas, is a swing district.
That means its single electoral vote might very well go to Harris. Recent polls show Harris leading Trump by between 5 and 8 points — a significant, though not insurmountable lead.
Barack Obama won the district and a single electoral vote in the 2008 presidential election. Biden took the district in 2020. But it went for Republican Mitt Romney in 2012 and Trump in 2016.
Nebraska and Maine don’t have a winner-take-all system of awarding all electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the state’s popular vote. Instead, if a candidate wins the majority in a House district in Nebraska, he or she gets an electoral vote for that district, even if they lose the state as a whole. Nebraska has three U.S. House districts and five total electoral votes.
The 58-year-old McDonnell, a retired Omaha fire chief, was first elected to the Legislature in 2017 as a Democrat. He switched parties this year after being censured by Democrats over his positions on abortion restrictions and transgender rights.
“After deep consideration, it is clear to me that right now, 43 days from Election Day, is not the moment to make this change,” state Senator Mike McDonnell said in his Monday statement. He added that he would “oppose any attempted changes to our Electoral College system before the 2024 election.”
McDonnell suggested he would support a referendum being placed on the ballot next year that unite the state’s electoral votes.
Trump, on his own social media platform Truth Social, blasted McDonnell’s announcement, writing in a post that the proposed change “would have been better, and far less expensive, for everyone!”
He added: “Unfortunately, a Democrat turned Republican(?) State Senator named Mike McDonnell decided, for no reason whatsoever, to get in the way of a great Republican, common sense, victory. Just another ‘Grandstander!'”
McDonnell’s decision was lauded by his former party.
“Nebraska has a long and proud tradition of independence, and our electoral system reflects that by ensuring that the outcome of our elections truly represents the will of the people without interference,” Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jane Kleeb said in a statement. “Senator McDonnell is standing strong against tremendous pressure from out-of-state interests to protect Nebraskans’ voice in our democracy.”
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