If Nebraska makes this change, it could hurt Kamala Harris’ chance of winning the White House

Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are calculating which states they need to win in order to become the next president.
In one formulation, Harris wins only if she picks up one Electoral College vote in Nebraska. The state has five votes, but it apportions some out based on who wins each congressional district, and Harris has a chance of winning the district around Omaha.
Some Republican lawmakers want the state to change to a winner-takes-all model, which is how 48 other states award electoral votes. Only Nebraska and Maine divvy up their votes in presidential elections.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen released a statement that said he wants to join “48 other states by awarding all five of our Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who wins the majority of Nebraskans’ votes.”
But, the Republican governor said, he won’t convene the state’s legislature to take up the issue unless 33 state senators say they will support the change.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was in the state last week, trying to convince Republican lawmakers to get on board.
On “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Graham put the chances of the change happening at “50-50,” saying it was down to “two people.” Graham said it’s something that Nebraska has been “talking about for years.”
“The entire federal delegation of Nebraska House members and two senators want this change. To my friends in Nebraska: That one electoral vote could be the difference between Harris being president or not, and she’s a disaster for Nebraska and the world,” he said.
One of the Republican state senators resisting the change is Sen. Mike McDonnell, who is from Omaha. The New York Times quoted his spokesperson, Barry Rubin, as saying on Friday, “Sen. McDonnell has heard a lot of compelling arguments for and against, but as of right now he still remains a no vote.”
McDonnell was once a Nebraska Democrat, but he switched his party affiliation to Republican in April after he was censured by Democrats in March for voting for socially conservative bills on abortion and transgender treatments for minors, the Times reported.
The Nebraska Democratic Party opposes the change to winner-takes-all, saying in a statement, “Nebraskans’ rights and fundamental freedoms are on the line this November, and we aren’t taking a single vote for granted to build a broad coalition of Democrats, independents and Republicans to win NE-02 again this November,” according to KETV Omaha.
The state’s Republican Party says changing to a winner-takes-all approach is “essential for ensuring that our state’s electoral influence is maximized.”
It is too late for Maine to change its electoral allotment rules because laws in Maine take 90 days to go into effect unless they are supported by a supermajority of both chambers. Democrats in Maine hold only a simple majority in the state House.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said Omaha is the capital of Nebraska. The capital is Lincoln.