Lone Republican Blocks GOP Effort to Hand All Nebraska Electoral Votes to Trump

A single Republican state senator in Nebraska has foiled attempts to guarantee the state's electoral votes to Trump by refusing to support a last minute change to a 32-year-old law.

State Sen. Mike McDonnell refused to change Nebraska's electoral vote allocation system whereby the winner of each of the state's 3 congressional districts wins one electoral vote, and the statewide winner of the election wins the remaining 2 electoral votes.

"After deep consideration, it is clear to me that right now, 43 days from Election Day, is not the moment to make this change," McDonnell said. "I have notified Governor (Jim) Pillen that I will not change my long-held position and will oppose any attempted changes to our electoral college system before the 2024 election."

McDonnell, a state senator from Omaha who stopped supporting the Democratic party turning Republican earlier this year, would not agree to award all of the state's electoral votes to the statewide winner of the election in a winner-takes-all system, which is what the state's governor and constitutional delegation were calling for.

Last week, former President Donald Trump spoke to Nebraska's state senators in a meeting organized by the state's Gov. Jim Pillen in order to convince them to change the state's electoral vote allocation system. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham even traveled to Nebraska's state capital, Lincoln, in order to express his own support for the winner-takes-all system.

Considered a red state, Nebraska has consistently voted for Republican presidential candidates for decades. However, one voting district encompassing Omaha and its suburbs elected the Democratic presidential candidate twice: Barack Obama in 2008 and President Joe Biden in 2020. GOP efforts to re-allocate electoral votes would guarantee this single vote to former President Donald Trump, had McDonnell not thwarted them.

"Nebraska voters, not politicians of either party, should have the final say on how we pick a President," McDonnell said. "I want to thank the voters who reached out to me for engaging in democracy and for showing America who Nebraskans are – fiercely independent, filled with pride about our great city of Omaha, and deeply devoted to the promise of American democracy."