PAPILLION, Neb. — On an unseasonably heat October night in jap Nebraska on Saturday, with solely 17 days till the 2024 presidential election, each the Harris and Trump campaigns descended upon the Cornhusker State to ship an analogous message to its 2nd Congressional District: their votes might singularly determine the end result of the race.
Nebraska is certainly one of two states — Maine is the opposite — that does not award Electoral School votes on a winner-take-all foundation. The winner of the favored vote within the state will get two votes and the opposite three are divided by the winner in every of the state’s congressional districts.
On Saturday, Democratic vice presidential nominee and Nebraska native son Tim Walz held a 1,400-person rally within the 2nd District — the Democratic-leaning space round Omaha, or “blue dot” — that might ship the Kamala Harris-Walz ticket one decisive Electoral School vote, regardless of latest efforts from Donald Trump and different Republicans to make the traditionally pink state change to winner-take-all that might possible hand the previous president the entire state’s votes.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks throughout a marketing campaign rally, Oct. 19, 2024, in Papillion, Neb.
Charlie Neibergall/AP
“And I’ve to let you know, I feel all of this, this factor goes to be shut… the ‘Blue Wall’ goes to carry throughout the north of America — Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota,” Walz stated, indicating his confidence in successful these industrial states that proved crucial in getting President Joe Biden throughout the 270 Electoral School vote threshold to win the presidency in 2020.
“However you do the maths,” Walz added, counting the states once more. “269 — one dot makes a distinction. Look — ‘Blue Dot,’ you are inspiring the remainder of the nation.”
“Omaha, put us excessive,” Walz concluded his rally on Saturday.
Throughout city, former impartial presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard campaigned for former President Donald Trump, additionally telling the gang within the state’s 2nd Congressional District simply how influential their ballots might be in November.
Kennedy alerted a unique 1,400-person viewers in a downtown Hilton ballroom that their district was voting within the “most important election on this nation.”
“We might nonetheless find yourself 269 to 269 [electoral votes]… Your votes are crucial votes in america right this moment, and that is why we have to win that state,” he stated.
Former Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to attendees throughout a marketing campaign rally at Brazos Corridor on Might 13, 2024 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Photographs, FILE
The chance that Trump and Harris tie at 269-269 — the place neither hits the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency — is not out of the query in a race forecasted by pundits and pollsters to be shut.
On Saturday, Kennedy laid out a hypothetical election night time situation that he stated was based mostly on inside polling he performed whereas he was a candidate, wherein Harris wins Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and Trump wins North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona.
In that situation, there could be 269- 269 tie, he stated. Kennedy highlighted then that one Electoral School vote in a state like Nebraska or Maine might push one candidate excessive.
Gabbard inspired the viewers to “persuade” different voters within the district to vote for Trump.
“You can be that swing district that can both save our nation or proceed us down this path in the direction of darkness and destruction,” she stated. “I would like you to consider how shut these elections could be, and this single congressional district specifically.”
“In order you permit right here tonight, I actually hope you’re taking the time to undergo the contacts that you’ve in your cellphone or your Fb pals or your coworkers, and significantly, go down title by title, and take into consideration who you may attain out to, you could perhaps persuade them about why they need to vote for President Trump on this election,” Gabbard added.
Based on the Harris marketing campaign, it has been on the bottom within the district for “months,” holding weekly cellphone banking and canvass occasions out of three discipline workplaces in Omaha. Within the final 4 days, the marketing campaign stated 100 Harris for Nebraska volunteers have spoken to greater than 6,400 voters within the district.
“We’re, we’re identical to this tiny, little blue dot on this pink state, we however we’ve got a voice, and we need to be heard, and particularly on this election, this election is so essential,” Meg Hawks, a Democrat from Omaha advised ABC Information at Walz’s rally.
“The blue dot has made our metropolis and our state even simply such a joyful place, and we’ve got,” she stated. “I personally really feel joyful about this, I really feel joyful about Tim Walz coming from Nebraska, and joyful about Kamala Harris’ insurance policies.”
All eyes on Nebraska as Senate, Home races warmth up
Nebraska has been a scorching matter nationally many instances this cycle — first for the chance it’d change its Electoral School course of into another favorable to Trump and taking away energy from the “Blue Dot,” and now for its more and more aggressive Home and Senate races that might decide the stability of energy in each chambers.
There is no such thing as a Democrat working for Senate in Nebraska however impartial Dan Osborn is being quietly (and typically not so quietly) backed by the occasion over incumbent Republican Sen. Deb Fischer. Walz did not point out the Senate race or its candidates at his rally on Saturday, however he did increase state Rep. Tony Vargas, who’s working as a Democrat within the 2nd District.
“We’ll want a Congress[member] that truly is aware of what work appears to be like like for the American individuals — ship Tony Vargas there and put Democrats in cost,” Walz stated.
On the Hilton, Kennedy and Gabbard didn’t as soon as point out both the Senate or congressional races within the district. However Democratic attendees at Walz’s rally on Saturday had been buzzing about Senate race.
“I am very cautiously optimistic that Dan Osborn will win. He is getting momentum and I feel persons are drained by what she has not performed, she actually would not have something to indicate,” stated Monica Kruger, a rally attendee from Omaha.
Judy Sterba, an Omahan who was additionally on the rally, stated she was working onerous to get each Vargas and Osborne to Washington.
“I’ve yard indicators and I write postcards everywhere in the nation to get individuals to register to vote. So I am giving cash on a regular basis to all people. I feel it is actually essential, and I really need Tony Vargas to win, and Dan Osborne. I just like the candidate, and I actually hate Deb for positive. In order that’s a very good cause for me,” she stated, noting that Senate management was “completely” a cause she was additionally supporting Osborn.
“[Osborne’s] acquired an actual good shot, an actual good shot,” she stated, noting his speedy rise over the previous few months.
“I used to be at Jazz on the Inexperienced, which is a summer time music pageant, in all probability in like July. Any individual got here round saying, ‘Are you able to signal for Dan Osborne to get on the poll?’ I am like, ‘Significantly, this late?’ This man has an opportunity, and he is been working his ass off. He is acquired a ton of assist,” she stated.
