Proposed Rule Change Could Hand Nebraska to Donald Trump

A renewed attempt to change Nebraska’s split-vote system could hand the state’s five Electoral College votes to Donald Trump in the upcoming election.
In Nebraska’s current structure, the winner of each of its three congressional districts is given an electoral vote while its two remaining votes are given to the winner of the statewide popular vote.
But Republicans want to change this to the winner-takes-all system that 48 other states use, where the winner of the statewide popular vote gets all the state’s electoral votes.
On Wednesday, five Nebraska Republican members of Congress wrote to Governor Jim Pillen and Speaker of the Legislature John Arch to push for the change.
They said: “We need a President that will represent all of us, from Omaha to Scottsbluff and everywhere in between. Senators and Governors are elected by the state as a whole because they represent all of the people of Nebraska equally, and the state should speak with a united voice in presidential elections as well. After all, we are Nebraskans first, not members of Nebraska’s three congressional districts. Our identity as Nebraskans is what unites us in a common bond.”
It was signed by Representatives Mike Flood, Don Bacon, Adrian Smith, and Republican Senators Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts. Newsweek has contacted Trump’s team via email outside of working hours for comment.
Nebraska is a Republican-leaning state, with Trump winning all five of the state’s electoral votes in 2016, but President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama each won a congressional seat in the state in 2020 and 2008, respectively.
Presidential candidates need a minimum of 270 Electoral College votes to win the White House and in an election as tight as this one, one electoral vote could make all the difference.
For Nebraska to change its system, Gov. Pillen, also a Republican, would have to convene a special legislative session for a senator to introduce the bill, which is then likely referenced to the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, Nebraska legislature spokesperson Kate Heltzel outlined to ABC News.
The bill would have to be advanced by the committee before moving to the floor of the legislature to go through three rounds of debate. There is no set time frame for this process, but a bill has to have a minimum of seven days between introduction and final passage.
Pillen supports a winner-takes-all system but he said last Friday that he will not call a special session unless he has “a clear and public indication that 33 senators are willing to vote in such a session to restore winner-take-all.”
He said: “Consistent with those principles, I and other conservatives have worked diligently to assess legislative support for WTA in a pre-election special session. At this time, I have not yet received the concrete and public indication that 33 senators would vote for WTA. If that changes, I will enthusiastically call a special session.”
State Senator Tom Brewer, who represents north-central Nebraska, has told the Nebraska Examiner that he thinks the chances of finding all these votes are “very remote.” He estimates that there are 30-31 votes in favor of the move.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime Trump ally, flew to Nebraska on Wednesday to meet with Republicans.
The event included Nebraska State Senator Mike McDonnell of Omaha, a former Democrat who turned Republican in April. McDonnell has previously said he would never support a winner-takes-all system. He has seemingly stuck by that belief, even after the meeting with Graham.
On Thursday, a spokesperson for McDonnell told the Examiner: “Senator McDonnell has heard compelling arguments from both sides, and, as of today, (he) is still a no.”
Nebraska’s split-vote electoral system, which the Democrat-leaning Maine also uses, came into effect in 1991, with the state facing multiple attempts to repeal it since. The current proposal was introduced in 2023 by Senator Loren Lippincott.