As election day nears, it appears Nebraska’s “blue dot” will remain intact.
Following yesterday’s announcement that Republican State Senator Mike McDonnell of Omaha would not support switching Nebraska’s split electoral vote system to a ‘winner-take-all’ method, Governor Jim Pillen issued an update today regarding his long-teased special legislative session on the matter:
“My team and I have worked relentlessly to secure a filibuster-proof 33-vote majority to get winner-take-all passed before the November election… 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. 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. Based on the lack of 33 votes, I have no plans to call a special session on this issue prior to the 2024 election. I am grateful to the many Nebraskans who made their voices heard during this process.”
McDonnell said after listening to those passionate about the issue nationally, and from the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District (NE-02), “that right now, 43 days from Election Day, is not the moment to make this change.” McDonnell said he told Gov. Jim Pillen his stance and suggested that the Legislature put the issue before voters, as a proposed constitutional amendment, so the people can decide the matter “once and for all.”
This comes after South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham visited the Governor’s mansion last week and spoke with McDonnell and other state lawmakers about “the importance” of ‘winner-take-all.’
Nebraska and Maine are the only two states in the country to follow the ‘congressional district method,’ allocating one electoral vote to each congressional district and the remaining votes to the statewide winner, totaling the state’s congressional delegation — 5 total in Nebraska.
Inversely, ‘winner-take-all’ awards all state electoral college votes to the presidential candidate who wins the most votes statewide, as opposed to district-by-district.
Nebraska has dished out individual electoral college votes since 1992, pushed for by former Lincoln State Senator DiAnna Schimek. Her stated motivations for the change was to encourage presidential candidates to campaign in the state. However, all five of the state’s electoral votes continued to go to the Republican candidate until 2008, when NE-02, the proverbial “blue dot,” delivered the first Democratic vote in state history to Barack Obama. This happened for the second time in 2020, when the district went to Joe Biden.
During the Nebraska Legislature’s regular session in 2024, state lawmakers resoundingly rejected a legislative effort to tack a ‘winner-take-all’ amendment on to a generally non-controversial bill package, 9-36.