GOP-controlled Legislature Denies Winner-Take-All Legislation

Virtually every state in this country has a winner-take-all electorate in the presidential general election.

That, however, is not the case in Nebraska, where a presidential candidate can win one vote by winning a specific district.

In the upcoming presidential race, that single vote could be the difference maker for Biden, but an effort to put Nebraska in line with the rest of the country failed.

Not Happening

One of the more popular paths to victory for Joe Biden would involve winning that single electoral vote in Nebraska.

There was a recent movement in the state to bring Nebraska in line with the rest of the country, a movement that was supported by the Republican governor and, of course, Donald Trump.

Many thought this was a no-brainer vote for the GOP-controlled state legislature, but the vote failed.

Not only did the vote fail, but it failed by a vote of 8-36, showing that Trump is not quite as influential as he thought with state lawmakers in Nebraska.

There were then rumors that the issue could come back up for a vote before the end of the session to have it in place before election day, but that idea was shot down by Senator Julie Slama, a Republican…

It won’t come up for a vote again. I know that’s what was promised, but there are no vehicles on which it could attach. Winner Takes All isn’t moving in 2024.

— Senator Julie Slama (@SenatorSlama) April 4, 2024

Slama further stated, “This pretty well sums it up- the “filibuster-proof” majority doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to make Nebraska a Winner-Take-All state in an election year. Wild.”

This will leave Nebraska as one of only two states that vote in this fashion, with Maine being the second.

Maine initiated the change in 1972, while Nebraska enacted the new system in 1992.

I have never quite understood this method of voting, as it goes against the direct purpose of the electoral college as it was designed by our Founding Fathers.

States like New York and California would never dream of enacting a law such as this because they know it would hurt a Democrat’s chance of winning the presidency, as these states are locked in blue states that give the Democrat candidate an enormous allotment of the votes needed to secure victory in a presidential election.

As I stated above, there is one path to victory for Biden that would include a handful of battleground states and this one electoral vote that would put him right on the number.

Now we just have to wait to see if Republicans shot themselves in the foot by not passing this legislation.