Nebraska GOP Might Take An Electoral Vote Away From Kamala Harris | EUROtoday

With lower than seven weeks to go till Election Day, Nebraska Republicans are contemplating passing a regulation to vary how the state distributes its electoral votes in a bid to disclaim Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris any vote from the state.

Nebraska is one in all two states, together with Maine, that doesn’t allocate all of its electoral votes to the general winner of the state. Instead, it gives two electoral votes for the statewide winner after which one vote for every of its three congressional districts.

The state’s 2nd Congressional District, centered on Omaha and its suburbs, has swung towards Democrats since former President Donald Trump was elected in 2016. Trump solely narrowly gained the district after GOP nominee Mitt Romney gained it comfortably in 2012. In 2020, President Joe Biden gained the district and its one electoral vote by 6.5%. The most up-to-date polling of the district reveals Harris with an analogous result in Biden’s 2020 margin.

The push to vary Nebraska’s electoral vote allocation is being led by GOP Gov. Jim Pillen and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Graham flew to the state to foyer state lawmakers on the governor’s mansion on Wednesday, and Trump himself reportedly referred to as into their assembly to induce the swap.

Nebraska’s complete congressional delegation additionally endorsed the push in a letter on Wednesday to Pillen and John Arch, the Republican speaker of the state’s unicameral legislature.

U.S. Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) advised HuffPost they believed the push for a winner-take-all consequence remained three or 4 votes shy within the Nebraska legislature as of Friday morning. State Sen. Loren Lippincott, the lead sponsor of the measure, advised the Omaha World-Herald Friday it appeared unlikely it will move.

Smith claimed a unified slate of electors would give Nebraska “more of a say” within the presidential election.

“Right now, we have a diminished say with the way that the legislature has it in place,” Smith advised HuffPost.

A winner-take-all consequence would give Nebraska Democrats much less say within the presidential end result. Bacon mentioned splitting electors is a greater means of representing the favored will, however provided that all states do it.

“I wish every state did it our way. I think it’s fair. To have only two states doing it causes problems,” Bacon mentioned, pointing to the truth that the Harris marketing campaign has spent tens of millions within the state whereas the Trump marketing campaign has spent nothing.

If Nebraska modifications the way it allocates its electoral votes, it might have a major affect on the result of the election. If Harris wins the three northern Blue Wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, then she wouldn’t have to win some other swing state to win the election. If, nonetheless, that one electoral vote from Nebraska as a substitute goes to Trump, as it will in a winner-take-all allocation, Harris would want to win both Arizona, Georgia, Nevada or North Carolina to keep away from a tied election.

The solely different choice to keep away from a tied Electoral College vote on this state of affairs could be for lawmakers in Maine to vary how they allocate electoral votes as nicely. Trump gained one Electoral College vote from Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in 2016 and 2020. Polls present he’s prone to win it once more.

But it’s probably that Maine wouldn’t be capable to move such laws, even when its Democratic state legislative majority wished to. In Maine, new laws doesn’t go into impact till 90 days after it’s enacted. The election will happen in 45 days. State legislators can move emergency laws to enter impact instantly, however that requires a two-thirds majority within the legislature. State Republicans would probably block any such effort.

Lakshya Jain, cofounder of an election evaluation agency referred to as Split Ticket, mentioned Friday that if Nebraska lawmakers change their electoral output, then Harris’ possibilities of profitable the presidency drop from from 62% to 58% in Split Ticket’s mannequin.

The Harris marketing campaign declined to remark for this story.

Daniel Marans contributed reporting.