Nebraska lawmakers on Friday gave first-round approval to new congressional boundaries, just ahead of Speaker Mike HIlger’s threat to put redistricting off until next year if they didn’t act.
The new congressional district map could make it harder for Democrats to win the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District and to pick up one of the state’s five Electoral College votes
Nebraska and Maine are the only states that allow their Electoral College votes to be split. Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden claimed one each in 2008 and 2020, respectively, despite handily losing the statewide, GOP-dominated vote
The new map was endorsed by nearly all Republicans in the one-house, officially nonpartisan Legislature.
That’s seen as a sign the newly drawn, Omaha-area district could be more favorable to the party in both U.S. House and presidential races. Nebraska Democrats quickly denounced the plan.