Efforts to change Nebraska to a “winner-take-all” electoral system despite support from former President Trump, Gov. Jim Pillen (R-Neb.), and Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) , failed in a key procedural vote late Wednesday. Nebraska).
Changing the distribution of Nebraska’s Electoral College votes, a Republican-dominated state, could bring it in line with most other states in the country and provide additional votes for President Trump this November. This is an attempt to attach the bill as an amendment to an unrelated bill. Wednesday it failed by a wide margin.
State Sen. Julie Slama, a Republican, led the push for the amendment, arguing on the floor that the best course of action would be to pass the bill during the current legislative session, which runs until April 18. Only eight of the required 23 members voted in favor of the vote.
On the floor, Democratic Sen. Makaela Kavanaugh argued that Republicans were trying to slip partisan legislation into unrelated work.
“Democracy is in crisis!” she said, The Lincoln Journal Star reported.
“I want to throw up. And I want to sleep. But I can’t do that because I don’t trust you,” she added, referring to her Republican colleagues.
Slama said after the vote that the prospects for the bill, which conservative activists say have a high chance of passing, are not as bright as once thought.
“The ‘stop the filibuster’ majority does not have the fortitude to make Nebraska a winner-take-all state in an election year,” she says. I wrote to X, formerly Twitter. “wild.”
Sen. Lauren Lippincott (Republican), who proposed the bill, said: Admitted After Wednesday’s vote, it was determined that the bill did not have enough support to avoid a Democratic-led filibuster, requiring 33 votes.
Only Nebraska and Maine allocate Electoral College votes by district. In most presidential elections, Republicans win two of Nebraska’s electoral districts and Democrats win one, but three are close contests. The state’s remaining two electors go to the winner of the popular vote, usually the Republican candidate.
If the bill goes into effect for the 2024 election, President Biden could lose electoral votes. Trump won about 58% of the vote in Nebraska in 2020, meaning the Republican candidate will win all of the state’s electors in a winner-take-all system.
The effort has been promoted by grassroots activists led by right-wing political commentator Charlie Kirk, as well as three recent high-profile backers: Pillen, Trump and Ricketts.
Pillen on Monday delayed supporting the winner-take-all bill, arguing it would bring Nebraska in line with the rest of the country and embody “what our founders intended.”
playing cards praised Pirene for next day approval.
President Trump said Tuesday: “Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen is a very smart and popular governor who has done some really great things, but today we are returning Nebraska’s electoral votes to a winner-take-all system. “We have published a very strong letter in support of this.” In a post by Truth Social.
“Most Nebraskans have wanted to go back to this system for a long time because it’s what the other 48 states are doing, it’s the founding intent, and it’s the right thing for Nebraska. ” he continued. “Thank you to the Governor for his bold leadership. Let’s hope the Senate does the right thing. Nebraskans, we respectfully ask our senators to support this great bill.
ricketts additional support It supported the bill after its proponents claimed they had secured enough votes to pass. State Sen. Mike McDonnell (R) changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican on Wednesday, giving Republicans a two-thirds majority in the unicameral Legislature.
The effort is supported by the Nebraska Freedom Coalition, a conservative activist group that got into a heated spat with lawmakers after Wednesday’s vote.
When it became clear the bill would not pass, Slama accused the group of not doing enough to back up its efforts. The Lincoln Journal Star reported.
“If you’re going to tweet about an issue, if you’re going to put out a press release about an issue and try to pressure Congress to do something, maybe when the concept is actually coming up and people are voting on it, maybe You will.’ Everyone should do their jobs,” she said. “Maybe you should do your work in committee hearings when the bill is actually introduced, instead of tweeting and issuing press releases with five days left in session.”
The Nebraska Freedom Coalition slammed Slama and other state legislators after the vote, calling for complete chaos in the party’s leadership after the vote was defeated.
“Maybe, just maybe, Senator Slama, it’s not our job to do your job,” the group said directly. response In response to comments from members of Congress. “We are ordinary citizens with real jobs and lives. We are not elites appointed with silver spoons who have never experienced a day of real work.”
“God forbid a tweet like this wakes up a bunch of senators and puts them to work!” it continued. “I’m sorry you missed your appointment with your hairdresser because we pushed for reforms that you overwhelmingly supported.”
In a statement to The Hill on Thursday, Slama accused the Nebraska Freedom Coalition of being “an overwhelming group of trolls clinging to tweets for relevance.”
“Their only goal seems to be to undermine the Republicans who are actually trying to win elections and govern,” she says.
Nebraska Republican Party Chairman Eric Underwood He placed the blame on the national Republican Party. After the vote was rejected, the Republican National Committee said it refused to use resources to support the effort.
“I went to the RNC last year and met the following people. [former Chair] “I think this can happen, but we need outside help,” Ronna McDaniel told Kirk in an interview. “We were basically told it wasn’t that important.”
Mr. Biden’s easiest path to victory is to win the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, plus one vote from Omaha to Nebraska, to reach the required 270 electoral votes. It is generally considered that the acquisition of
–Updated at 9:42am
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