CNN
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A pressure campaign from Donald Trump and Republican allies to alter Nebraska election legislation was dealt a major setback on Monday as a pivotal Omaha state senator mentioned he wouldn’t help a last-ditch effort to overturn a 30-year legislation that awards electoral votes by congressional district relatively than statewide winner-take-all.
State Sen. Mike McDonnell, a former Democrat who joined the GOP earlier this 12 months, mentioned in a press release Monday that he wouldn’t vote to alter the legislation in Nebraska earlier than the November election.
“After deep consideration, it’s clear to me that proper now, 43 days from Election Day, isn’t the second to make this alteration,” McDonnell mentioned. “I’ve notified Governor (Jim) Pillen that I cannot change my long-held place and can oppose any tried modifications to our electoral faculty system earlier than the 2024 election.”
McDonnell was seen as one of many final finest hopes from Republicans to alter the legislation earlier than November. He made clear that he had little interest in supporting a change so near the election.
“Nebraska voters, not politicians of both get together, ought to have the ultimate say on how we choose a President,” McDonnell mentioned. “I wish to thank the voters who reached out to me for participating in democracy and for exhibiting America who Nebraskans are – fiercely unbiased, crammed with pleasure about our nice metropolis of Omaha, and deeply dedicated to the promise of American democracy.”
The battle over a single electoral vote from Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which has grow to be generally known as Omaha’s blue dot, has emerged as an emblem of simply how shut the race between Trump and Kamala Harris has grow to be.
Even when Harris received the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, however carried no different key battlegrounds, she would nonetheless want the electoral vote from Nebraska’s 2nd District to safe the 270 electoral votes wanted to win the White Home.
Trump believes he’ll win 4 electoral votes from Nebraska, however it’s the fifth one which he has been more and more fretting about – main him and his Republican allies to mount a late effort to attempt to change state election legislation solely weeks earlier than ballots are solid. He referred to as into a gathering of state senators final week, urging them to alter the election legislation earlier than November.
Trump received all 5 of Nebraska’s electoral votes in 2016, however received solely 4 in 2020, with Joe Biden carrying the Omaha-area seat. The Harris marketing campaign is spending tens of millions to attempt to win that sole electoral vote once more, with a grassroots effort enjoying out in entrance yards throughout Omaha that includes yard indicators with blue dots, a hopeful image for Democrats in a sea of Nebraska crimson.
Nebraska Democratic chairwoman Jane Kleeb praised McDonnell’s determination Monday.
“Nebraska has a protracted and proud custom of independence and our electoral system displays that by making certain that the result of our elections actually represents the need of the folks with out interference,” Kleeb mentioned in a press release to CNN. “Senator McDonnell is standing sturdy towards super strain from out-of-state pursuits to guard Nebraskans’ voice in our democracy.”
Pillen, the state’s Republican governor, has mentioned he was nonetheless ready to convene a particular session of the Nebraska Legislature earlier than the November election to alter the legislation, however he would solely achieve this if there was ample help. An effort failed earlier this 12 months to alter the legislation that’s distinctive to solely Nebraska and Maine.
McDonnell’s assertion Monday appeared to shut the door on the difficulty this 12 months, officers mentioned.
Neither Pillen nor the Trump marketing campaign instantly responded to a request for remark.