Last Friday, Governor Jim Pillen offered a statement regarding the status of consideration for a special session on restoring winner-take-all (WTA) to Nebraska’s allocation of electoral college votes.
“As I have consistently made clear, I strongly support statewide unity and joining 48 other states by awarding all five of our electoral college votes to the presidential candidate who wins the majority of Nebraskans’ votes.” Pillen stated.
Nebraska has split electoral votes for presidential elections since 1992. This system has allowed each of Nebraska’s 3 congressional districts to have a say in where each 5 state electoral votes are given. For example, in the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump won statewide in Nebraska’s 1st and 3rd districts, while Joe Biden took Nebraska’s 2nd district- meaning 4 votes were allocated to Trump and 1 vote to Biden.
“As I have also made clear,” Pillen continued, “I am willing to convene the Legislature for a special session to fix this 30-year-old problem before the 2024 election. However, I must receive clear and public indication that 33 senators are willing to vote in such a session to restore winner-take-all.”
Pillen went on to say he would “enthusiastically call” for a special session on the issue if the feeling from 33 Senators changes but says he has not not received “concrete and public” indication yet.
The last time Nebraska voted as a majority for a Democrat presidential candidate came in 1964 when 52.6% of the state voted for Lyndon B. Johnson. Nebraska Republicans have been pushing for a winner-take-all system since April of this year.
However, Maine- the only other state to split electoral votes- and Maine House Majority Leader Maureen Terry said they will also change to a WTA system as well if Nebraska does so. Theoretically, this would negate any progress for conservatives backing Trump in 2024 as Maine has long voted majority blue (since George H. W. Bush in 1988).