A single Republican state senator has opened up a potential nightmare scenario for former President Donald Trump.
Republican Nebraska State Sen. Mike McDonnell announced Monday that he opposes changing the state’s current system, where presidential candidates are awarded one electoral vote for each congressional district they win, plus two votes for whoever wins the whole state, to a winner-take-all allocation. McDonnell’s refusal to back the change would allow Vice President Kamala Harris to lose every Sub Belt swing state and still defeat Trump 270 to 268 if she pulls off victories in the Rust Belt and Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.
Without McDonnell’s support, Nebraska Republicans have no path to overcome a filibuster blocking the change to how electoral votes are allocated, according to the Nebraska Examiner.
In the event that Trump and Harris each receive 269 electoral votes in November, the House delegations for each state would vote for their preferred candidate and the candidate with the most states backing them takes the White House — a process that would favor Trump as 26 states currently have majority-Republican delegations, according to CNN.
Every other state in the union, with the exception of Maine, awards electoral votes on a winner-takes-all basis. President Joe Biden won Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District in 2020, however, Trump won it in 2016.
“Elections should be an opportunity for all voters to be heard, no matter who they are, where they live, or what party they support,” McDonnell said in his statement announcing opposition to the change. “I have taken time to listen carefully to Nebraskans and national leaders on both sides of the issue. After deep consideration, it is clear to me that right now, 43 days from Election Day, is not the moment to make this change.”
McDonnell is from Omaha, which is in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, and has confirmed to the local press that he is considering running for mayor in 2025, according to the Nebraska Examiner. He also indicated that he would support a statewide referendum on the winner-take-all issue after November’s election.
McDonnell was previously a Democrat but switched to the Republican Party in April after he said his Democratic colleagues failed to respect his “religious-based, pro-life position,” and that they had attempted to punish him for it, the Nebraska Examiner reported.
The state senator has been criticized by both national and local Republicans for his position.
“There is too much at stake in this election for Nebraskans to spare an electoral vote,” Republican State Sen. Rob Dover said, the Nebraska Examiner reported. “We should speak as a unified voice.”
Trump also hit McDonnell in a Truth Social post, questioning his loyalty to the party and vowing to win Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.
Democrats, by contrast, praised McDonnell’s position, with the chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party lauding him for “standing strong against tremendous pressure from out-of-state interests to protect Nebraskans’ voice in our democracy,” according to the Nebraska Examiner.
McDonnell did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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