MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Republicans have been hoping to pick up a key electoral vote before voting even begins. That hope rested on an effort to change how Nebraska awards its five electoral votes, and that effort was focused on pressuring a single GOP state senator. That lawmaker said yesterday he will not support that change. Nebraska Public Media's Brian Beach has been covering this story, and he's here to tell us more about it. Good morning, Brian.
BRIAN BEACH, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: First, could you just briefly explain the change that Republicans have been lobbying for - how it would affect how Nebraska awards electoral votes?
BEACH: Yeah. So Nebraska is one of two states - with Maine being the other - that allows split electoral votes if a candidate wins the popular vote in a congressional district. So Nebraska - it's majority Republican, but it has a blue dot. It's the state's 2nd Congressional District in Omaha that has gone for Democratic candidates in two recent presidential elections, including for President Joe Biden in 2020. But with the race being so tight, Republicans wanted to change the way that Nebraska allots its electoral votes to a winner-take-all system. Republican Governor Jim Pillen said earlier this month that he would call a special legislative session to vote on this if he had enough support from senators. On Monday, he learned he does not have that because State Senator Mike McDonnell - a Republican who represents an Omaha district in the state's unicameral legislature - said he would not support legislation returning to a winner-take-all system.
MARTIN: Did he say why not?
BEACH: Yeah, well, he mentioned that this gives Omaha some additional political power. It means that candidates will come to Omaha and campaign. Tim Walz, who's from Nebraska originally, ended up coming to Omaha and doing an event. But also, Mike McDonnell is someone who recently switched parties from Democrat to Republican over being censured by Democrats when talking about abortion and transgender issues. And so really, he is someone who was never fully on board with this winner-take-all switch to begin with, but that didn't stop Republicans from pressuring him to change his vote.
MARTIN: Interesting. And remind us again of why this matters so much for this year's presidential election, and why Republicans were so keen on this change.
BEACH: Yeah, well, that's because one electoral vote could make a really big difference in the election, and Republicans are keen because this change could give them that one extra electoral vote. For example, if Donald Trump wins all of the Sunbelt swing states, and Kamala Harris wins Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nebraska's 2nd District, Harris would have 270 votes, which would be just enough to win. But if Nebraska switched to a winner-take-all state, the election would be decided by the newly elected U.S. House of Representatives.
MARTIN: Oh, OK. So seems like not going to happen for now - but are we likely to see this play out again, even if not this year?
BEACH: Yeah, well, there is definitely a chance because, since congressional allocation became law in the early 1990s, there have been several attempts to change this back. But the effort really gained traction when Senator McDonnell switched his parties. That gave Nebraska Republicans that two-thirds majority in what is an officially nonpartisan legislature, which gave those national Republicans the hope that the law could be changed. Now, it would still take at least 33 votes to overcome a filibuster. But depending on how this November election turns out, a Republican supermajority seems that it would be likely to pass it.
MARTIN: Wow.
BEACH: Senator McDonnell is term-limited. But yesterday, he actually called on the Unicameral to pass a constitutional amendment regarding Nebraska's electoral vote allocation in next year's legislative session. And if that is passed, the winner-take-all would be up to voters across the state.
MARTIN: All right - a lot to look at. Brian Beach is a reporter for Nebraska Public Media. Thanks, Brian.
BEACH: Thank you.
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