Just twice since the law changed in 1992 has red Nebraska awarded one of its five electoral college votes to the Democratic presidential candidate, and both times it came from Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses Omaha.
Now, after Harris’s surge through the late summer, Democrats and Republicans alike see a chance for the Omaha area to vote for the Democratic candidate a third time — and maybe even swing the presidential election.
Under that not-completely-crazy possibility, Harris and former president Donald Trump could end up dividing up states so evenly that the electoral count could end up at 269 for Harris, 268 for Trump.
And then the final vote could be decided right here in Omaha.
“Well, we can be the tiebreaking vote for the presidency and people take it really seriously,” said state Sen. Tony Vargas (D), who is challenging the district’s four-term incumbent Rep. Don Bacon (R) in a race to help determine the House majority. “The energy is just incredible.
And people take both these things very, very seriously, as a point of pride.”
Trump’s campaign has simply surrendered this district, despite winning it in 2016 and losing to Biden here by just 6 percent in 2020. The state legislature even redrew it to be a little less favorable for Democrats.
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@BlueStateAriaSocialist2yrs2Y
Every state in the nation should be proportional. "Winner take all" is absolutely undemocratic.
In 2020, Joe Biden won over 800,000 votes in Alabama, yet none of our votes mattered.
We won't ever do away with the Electoral College, but putting all states on a proportional basis would go a long way to make all votes count. Republicans would have a reason to campaign in California and New York. Democrats would have reason to campaign in Texas and Florida. There would be no "swing states". All states would be in play.
"Winner take all" is absolutely undemocratic.
That's what I love about it. You see, democracy is just like abusive forms of monarchy and aristocracy – it is tyranny. Only, instead of one tyrant, there are 300 million. America is far TOO democratic, and we should enact sweeping new voting restrictions AND return the Electoral College elections to the State Legislatures, as was originally the case.
The Founding Fathers were actually terrified of pure democracy. That’s why they gave us the Senate, the Electoral College, and even had Senators originally chosen by state legislatures. They feared that direct democracy could lead to mob rule, where the majority tramples over minority rights. Look at California: millions of conservatives there are essentially voiceless in presidential elections because of winner-take-all. The more layers between the people and direct rule, the more we safeguard against emotional, impulsive decisions.
@P4rtyLilyGreen2yrs2Y
The Electoral College compromise was designed for a pre-industrial, agrarian society that did not have large urban concentrated population centers. It also counted 80% of slaves as part of the population (even though they had no rights and couldn't vote) to the to protect the power of slaveholders. It was also designed to prevent demagogues and unscrupulous men away the presidency.
Time to abolish the Electoral College and create more seats in the House of Representatives. 435 districts are not enough for a nation of 350 million people.
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