Omaha— When conservative activist Charlie Kirk took the stage, it was clear that Donald Trump had prompted him to visit Nebraska and persuade state lawmakers to embrace a “winner-take-all” Electoral College voting system. “You see what’s ahead of us,” Kirk told a 500-person rally Tuesday night. “Trump vs. Biden goes beyond an election. Civilizational survival is at stake.”
Kirk joined the Trump-led Nebraska Republican Party to hold the event Tuesday in an evangelical Christian church in a southwest Omaha business complex. When Kirk spoke, 500 people crowded the room, and 400 more were in overflow rooms elsewhere in the church, said Turning Point spokesperson Andrew Kolvet.
Most attendees cheered whenever Trump was mentioned. The 38-year-old freshly elected chairman of the Sarpy County GOP, Michael Tiedeman, said the same enthusiasm that saw Trump loyalists take control the state party in 2022 will fuel the movement to make Nebraska a winner-take-all state before the general election.
He claimed the Democrats are investing heavily in our 2nd Congressional District to win that one electoral vote. They target the state's unusual divide of five presidential electoral votes. The other three races are related to the state's three congressional districts and go to the district's popular vote winner. Maine is the only state to split electoral votes; the other 48 give all electoral votes to the statewide winner.
Kirk said Nebraska's split system was "probably well-intended, but this whole thing is just the goofiest thing I've ever seen." Republican Trump may need every electoral vote to defeat President Joe Biden in a 2020 rematch. Kirk's rally was inspired by a map he and his podcast team saw last week showing that if Biden won Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, an electoral vote from Nebraska would give him 270 electoral votes for reelection, even if Trump wins all the other swing states.
One of our team members said, ‘Yeah, unless Nebraska just goes and fixes it,’” Kirk added. Kirk pushed his supporters to phone Republican Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen's office to urge a winner-take-all approach this year, bringing the matter national attention. Pillen made a statement five hours later pushing the Legislature to pass a winner-take-all law delayed in committee. Trump praised Pillen and encouraged the flip on Truth Social shortly after.
Since 1991, Republicans, who have dominated Nebraska politics, have failed to revert the state to winner-take-all. This year's sticking points are property tax reduction, school financing, and wedge issues. Last week, Pillen called for a winner-take-all law, but there were only a few days left in the session, not enough to extract it from committee and debate it three times before other key bills.
Kirk and Nebraska Republicans want the governor to summon a special session to adopt a winner-take-all proposal after the current session ends on April 18. I had a really positive phone discussion with somebody in the governor's office today, and they are committed to a special session to get this done,» Kirk stated.
Pillen can do so, but the 49-member Nebraska Legislature may not have enough votes for a winner-take-all bill. Although the body is neutral, lawmakers identify as Republican, Democrat, or independent and vote party lines. GOP control of 33 of 49 legislative seats is enough to break a filibuster if all 33 vote to halt debate.
Omaha Sen. Mike McDonnell, who jumped parties last week from Democrat to Republican, told the Nebraska Examiner he won't vote for winner-take-all. Pillen and other state lawmakers did not attend the event since the Legislature worked late Tuesday in the final days of this year's session.
Still, Kirk and others, like Nebraska GOP chairman Eric Underwood, urged rallygoers to phone senators daily until they adopt the proposal before November. “If Nov. 6 comes and we didn't do everything we can, we'll lose this country,” Underwood told the gathering. We'll pass winner-take-all. The solution will be found.”
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