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National Republicans are making a late push for Nebraska to switch to a winner-take-all presidential election to help Donald Trump in November, something that Maine has essentially run out of time to counteract.
Democratic-led Maine and Republican-led Nebraska are the only two states in the country to split Electoral College votes by congressional district along with giving the statewide winner two at-large electors. Maine has two congressional districts, while Nebraska has three districts.
The news: Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, hosted 24 state senators and Nebraska’s top elections official on Wednesday to gauge support for a winner-take-all system before holding any special session that he reportedly prefers to call no later than next week.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, skipped votes on Capitol Hill to go to Nebraska and urge senators in the 49-seat unicameral Legislature to support the change. Pillen said he needs 33 senators to firmly commit to backing winner-take-all before calling a special session. At least one state senator said Pillen does not yet have that number.
The big picture: In April, Pillen and Trump came out in support of changing Nebraska’s system to winner-take-all after conservative activist Charlie Kirk urged Nebraskans to “stop pointlessly giving strength to their political enemies.”
President Joe Biden, whom Vice President Kamala Harris has replaced atop the Democratic ticket, earned one vote in Nebraska by carrying the Omaha-area 2nd Congressional District in 2020, while Trump won all five of the state’s electors in 2016.
A Republican presidential candidate has not won Maine since 1988, though Trump won 2nd District in 2016 and 2020. Maine lawmakers in parties said in April they like the current system that splits votes by district, though Democrats back a national popular vote effort.
But Maine House Majority Leader Mo Terry, D-Gorham, said that same month the Legislature would be “compelled” to consider a special session if Nebraska changed its system.
What’s next: Nebraska has some time to consider this move, while Maine effectively has no ability to fight it. After the election, each state’s electors must convene on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December, which is Dec. 17 of this year.
Wednesday marked 90 days until Dec. 17. Any Maine legislation adopting a winner-take-all system would need that much time to take effect, since legislative Republicans would deny Democrats the two-thirds majorities needed in both chambers to pass a bill immediately.
What they’re saying: Maine Democrats never really rallied around Terry’s call in April to react to any Nebraska move. Terry said then that she and her colleagues hoped Nebraska Republicans would not “make this desperate and ill-fated attempt to sway the 2024 election.”
“Maine has the gold standard of presidential election processes in the United States,” House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, said Thursday, signaling his party’s position. “We should be trying to convince other states to use a more representative process like ours, not change to winner-take-all like other states.”
