Key Nebraska Republican Rejects Trump’s Push to Shake Up Electoral Map

Key Nebraska Republican Rejects Trump’s Push to Shake Up Electoral Map

Mike McDonnell, a state senator, said he would not support an effort to change the state’s electoral system to winner take all, an outcome that could have cost Kamala Harris an electoral vote.

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By Reid J. Epstein

Reporting from Washington

The Nebraska state senator who Republicans hoped would help ease former President Donald J. Trump’s path to the White House by agreeing to change how the state allocates its Electoral College votes said on Monday that he would not do so, ending a brief but intense lobbying effort from allies of Mr. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The state legislator, Mike McDonnell, a Democrat turned Republican from Omaha, said that he would not agree to change Nebraska’s 32-year tradition of awarding three of the state’s five electoral votes by congressional district to a winner-take-all system based on the statewide popular vote, bucking calls from Nebraska’s governor and its congressional delegation to help Mr. Trump.

“In recent weeks, a conversation around whether to change how we allocate our Electoral College votes has returned to the forefront,” Mr. McDonnell said in a statement on Monday. “I respect the desire of some of my colleagues to have this discussion, and I have taken time to listen carefully to Nebraskans and national leaders on both sides of the issue. After deep consideration, it is clear to me that right now, 43 days from Election Day, is not the moment to make this change.”

Mr. McDonnell said he had told the state’s Republican 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.” He said he had proposed seeking a constitutional amendment next year, which would require a statewide vote to change how Nebraska allocates its electoral votes.

The Nebraska Examiner earlier reported Mr. McDonnell’s statement.

Nebraska is a reliably red state, and, had the change taken effect, it would have affected only the electoral vote awarded from the congressional district that includes Omaha and its suburbs, which has gone to Democrats twice since the state established its by-district allocation system for the 1992 election. Barack Obama won it in 2008, and President Biden took it in 2020. In this year’s presidential election, both of the leading campaigns see situations in which a single electoral vote could prove decisive.

Mr. Pillen had said he would convene the state’s 49 legislators in a special session to change the state law once he had commitments from enough of them to overcome a promised filibuster from Nebraska Democrats. In the past week, when Mr. McDonnell, a former firefighter who is the president of the Omaha Federation of Labor, emerged as the key vote on the issue, he found himself being pressured by high-level allies of the Harris and Trump campaigns.

Last week, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina traveled to Lincoln, the Nebraska state capital, to lobby lawmakers to change their electoral vote allocation system to winner take all. After that, the five members of the state’s congressional delegation, who are all Republicans, signed a joint letter endorsing the switch.

“Nebraska has a long and proud tradition of independence, and our electoral system reflects that by ensuring that the outcome of our elections truly represents the will of the people without interference,” said Jane Kleeb, the chairwoman of the Nebraska Democratic Party. “Senator McDonnell is standing strong against tremendous pressure from out-of-state interests to protect Nebraskans’ voice in our democracy. In this election and those to come, Nebraskans will continue to lead the way by electing leaders at every level who stand up for the people and respect our spirit of independence.”

Mr. McDonnell, who is barred by term limits from seeking re-election to the Nebraska Legislature, is widely seen as eyeing a run for mayor of Omaha against the incumbent, Jean Stothert, a Republican who said on Friday that she had “always” preferred a winner-take-all allocation of Nebraska’s electoral votes.

Changing the law would require agreement from 33 of the 49 state senators in Nebraska’s unicameral Legislature. Sixteen seats are held by Democrats, all of whom are opposed to the switch. Up until now, Mr. McDonnell and two other Republicans had not committed to the change. The other two Republicans have been seen by officials in both parties in Nebraska as all but certain to follow Mr. McDonnell’s lead.

The prospect of winning just one of Nebraska’s electoral votes is tantalizing to the two presidential campaigns.

If all five of Nebraska’s electoral votes are awarded to Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris carries Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and all of the other states Mr. Biden won in 2020 except Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, the vice president and Mr. Trump would each have 269 electoral votes, a tie that would be broken by a vote of state delegations in the House of Representatives. Republicans hold an advantage there and would most likely award the White House to Mr. Trump.

But under the current rules, if Ms. Harris wins the Omaha district along with the northern battleground states, she would win the White House regardless of how the Sun Belt states vote. The Harris campaign has held a campaign event in Omaha featuring her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, who is a Nebraska native.