Nebraska State Sen. Mike McDonnell informed ABC Information Prime Anchor Linsey Davis on Tuesday that the push to vary the state’s Electoral School allocation to “winner take all” — a transfer that will have probably benefited former President Donald Trump and made the electoral map tougher for Vice President Kamala Harris — as a substitute of votes by congressional district with lower than two months earlier than the final election “didn’t appear truthful.”
“I am all the time prepared to take heed to individuals and attempt to discover a compromise, but additionally attempt to perceive why they’re voting sure … However this simply didn’t appear truthful. If we will go forward and alter [the rules] within the state of Nebraska, I believe we must always do it mid-term. I believe we must always do it two years earlier than the presidential election,” McDonnell informed Davis of the timing round a possible legislation change.
McDonnell continued: “However we do pay attention, as Nebraskans, and typically individuals say, oh, ‘Nebraska good,’ meaning, you recognize, you are sort of weak — and it is not. We work laborious and we play by the foundations and we’re simply asking everybody to come back in, work laborious in Omaha, the 2nd Congressional District, and play by the foundations.”
Nebraska state Sen. Mike McDonnell (proper) speaks to ABC Information Reside Prime anchor Linsey Davis, Sept. 24, 2024.
ABC Information
The potential winner-take-all electoral change would have been pivotal if the Republican-leaning state then allotted all of its 5 electoral votes solely to Trump if he received statewide, as a substitute of dividing them with Harris if she received in one in every of Nebraska’s three congressional districts. Nebraska provides three Electoral School votes to the statewide winner and one to the winner of every congressional district.
Earlier this week, McDonnell, who was one in every of three state Republican holdouts that Gov. Jim Pillen wanted to interrupt an anticipated filibuster in a particular legislative session, stated he wouldn’t assist the change earlier than November. This announcement successfully killed the winner-take-all push.
As a substitute, McDonnell stated he believed the legislature ought to take up the difficulty in subsequent 12 months’s legislative session, which tentatively begins the primary week of January 2025.
Nebraska state Sen. Mike McDonnell speaks to ABC Information Reside Prime anchor Linsey Davis, Sept. 24, 2024.
ABC Information
McDonnell talked about that he had been opposed beforehand to “winner-take-all” within the state since he ran for legislature beginning in 2016.
Pressed by Davis if anybody or something may make him change his resolution, McDonnell was firm: “No. I’ve tried to pay attention and I all the time will pay attention. I believe the remainder of the nation ought to comply with us and take a look at the unicameral [Nebraska Legislature] and take a look at eliminating the winner-take-all.”
On this March 1, 2019 file picture, Nebraska State Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha is proven within the Legislative Chamber in Lincoln, Neb.
Nati Harnik/AP
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen later launched an announcement Tuesday confirming he has “no plans” to name a particular session earlier than the November basic election.
Trump on Monday thanked Pillen for making an attempt to “simplify the complexity” of the state’s electoral map, whereas attacking McDonnell for opposing it, calling him a “Grandstander.”
“Sadly, a Democrat turned Republican(?) State Senator named Mike McDonnell determined, for no cause in any respect, to get in the way in which of an amazing Republican, frequent sense, victory. Simply one other ‘Grandstander!'” Trump wrote in a social media publish.
In the meantime, Harris’s working mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whereas talking at a New York fundraiser on Monday evening, celebrated McDonnell’s resolution, saying that the race could be shut as a result of the “Electoral School is the way in which it’s,” earlier than stating, “Thank God for that one man in Omaha” — a reference to McDonnell.
Requested to reply to Trump’s feedback, McDonnell stated, “Nicely, in the present day’s the primary day I’ve talked to the media and I am all the time prepared to get, as I stated, over the past eight years, serving within the legislature – prepared to speak to individuals and pay attention.”
And requested about Walz’s feedback and if Harris and Trump ought to make marketing campaign stops in Omaha — in addition to if his personal resolution could have modified the end result of the election — McDonnell stayed away from making any predictions, however invited them each to Omaha.
“I am inviting each Vice President Harris and President Trump. Come to Omaha. Come have a debate right here! There’s nonetheless 42 days. Take heed to the individuals. Speak to the individuals and reply the questions.”
On this undated picture, the skyline of Omaha is seen from the Missouri River in Nebraska.
Schooling Photographs/UIG by way of Getty Photographs
McDonnell emphasised that almost all — if not all — of the suggestions he had gotten in regards to the subject had been civil.
“We all know it is an important subject. It is a passionate subject, and individuals are enthusiastic about it … 90% of them have been skilled and well mannered,” McDonnell informed Davis.
ABC Information’ Isabella Murray, Soorin Kim, Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
