Senator Lindsey Graham is leading a push to change Nebraska's election laws to give former President Donald Trump an advantage.
“The entire federal delegation in Nebraska, the House members and two senators, want to change this,” Graham said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Press conference. “To my friends in Nebraska, this one electoral vote could be the difference between Harris being president or not, and that is a disaster for Nebraska and the world.”
Under current law, Nebraska’s electoral votes are apportioned by electoral district, but Trump, Graham and other Republicans at the state and national level want to change the rules to make it winner-take-all. Without that change, Harris could win the Electoral College by a very narrow margin. As long as Harris wins Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, plus one electoral district in Nebraska — perhaps the one that includes Omaha — she could lose every other Sun Belt state and still win by 270 votes to 268.
If Republicans succeed, and Nebraska’s electoral votes are allocated to just one candidate, the above scenario would result in a tie in the electoral college, 269-269. That would send the decision to the House of Representatives, where each state delegation gets a vote. Because Republicans control more state delegations, they could hand Trump the win.
Graham isn’t just pushing for the change on Sunday television. Last week, the senator met with about a dozen Republican state legislators in Nebraska who support the change. But the matter is not settled. It would require the governor of Nebraska to call a special legislative session, which Gov. Jim Belin has said he supports, as long as he can confirm that enough senators will vote for the measure.
“At this time, I have not yet received a concrete, public indication that 33 senators will vote in favor of the WTA,” Belen said in a statement on September 13. “If this changes, I will enthusiastically call for a special session.”
when Press conference Anchor Kristen Welker asked Graham about the chances of Nebraska making the change, and he said the odds were “50-50, and it only comes down to two people.”
Among the remaining naysayers is Republican Senator Mike McDonnell, who has so far opposed changing the rules. According to The New York TimesIf McDonnell changes his mind publicly, others will follow.
“Senator McDonnell has heard many compelling arguments for and against, but so far he has still voted against,” McDonnell spokesman Barry Rubin said Friday. Times“The only way he would consider switching is if someone gave him a compelling reason why it makes sense for him to make that decision based on a winner-take-all attitude.”
