Nebraska Sen. McDonough expresses his position on the winner

LINCOLN — Nebraska Sen. Mike McDonnell, a four-term Democrat and longtime leader of the Omaha fire union, is facing criticism after Democrats denounced his support for stricter abortion He became a Republican in April after banning and restricting health care for transgender minors.

In announcing the shift, McDonald said he opposed changes to Nebraska’s presidential election process. He said he prefers to maintain the status quo, awarding one Electoral College vote to the winner of the popular vote in each congressional district.

Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump in Philadelphia on September 10, 2024. (Wynn McNamee/Getty Images)

Nebraska and Maine are the only states that award one electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district and two votes to the winner of the statewide presidential popular vote.

However, in April and last week, Republicans privately suggested that McDonough might be willing to change his position. Many say McDonald and others around him have suggested that endorsing his possible run for Omaha mayor might help convince him to support a winner-take-all approach.

In an interview with the Examiner on Tuesday, McDonald denied that his position on the Electoral College had anything to do with his mayoral ambitions. He said he has supported letting people vote on a winner-take-all approach since 2017.

Changing the rules mid-game

In explaining the winner-take-all decision he announced Monday, MacDonald said he was more troubled by the timing of the proposed changes than the changes themselves. He said it felt like a game-changer with two minutes remaining.

“We called a timeout, went over and talked to the officials and said, ‘Hey, we know the field goal is three, but we need to get to four here,'” McDonald said. “It doesn’t seem fair. … That’s not the Nebraska way.

He said any major changes to the way presidential votes are counted should happen during the midterm elections. This timing will help competing candidates understand the rules before the campaign begins and plan their strategies and investments accordingly.

Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris on September 20, 2024 in Atlanta. (Joe Reddell/Getty Images)

He also said he personally supports maintaining the current system because of the economic and economic consequences of focusing swing-district-level presidential attention on Omaha, Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District as candidates compete for so-called blue points. political influence.

“There should be 435 congressional districts that handle this the way we do,” McDonald said of Nebraska’s approach. “But it’s more about Green Dot Omaha. It brings us relevance and economics, and we’re told there’s a $50 million economic impact.

As he did in late March and early April, McDonald spent six days in the national spotlight, this time at the center of a nationwide Republican push to carve another path through Nebraska for former President Donald Trump. Potential path to running for president.

The urgency of being evenly matched

The Republican urgency is reflected in part by national polls showing a close race between Trump and Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. Some political observers believe the 2nd District could break the 269-269 tie in the Electoral College.

Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen. April 18, 2024.

Nebraska has split the vote twice in four presidential contests. President Joe Biden won the 2nd District in 2020. Nigeria also achieved the same result in 2012.

MacDonald admitted to being open to listening to criticism of the current system. He said he dealt with opponents throughout his eight years as a state senator. He did not say whether he had discussed the issue with Trump.

He said other Republican senators attending the Sept. 18 meeting at the governor’s mansion may have misinterpreted his willingness to discuss the issue as a change of position. Republicans said they heard him right when he said he wanted to “agree” on a winner-take-all issue.

“My position has not changed,” he said on Tuesday. “That’s my goal…, to say, ‘I’m a no. Please tell me how you do it. You know… educate me. Teach me something I don’t know… …I kept insisting…and you were always willing to listen.

Some people saw Macdonald speak

Republicans and Democrats across the country clearly see McDonough’s potential for action on this issue. The campaigns of Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have been monitoring, meeting with and engaging with local politicians and political activists for weeks.

Nebraska Republican Party Chairman Eric Underwood speaks at an Operation Turning Point event with Charlie Kirk in Omaha in April 2024. Sandford/Nebraska Observer)

Political observers found it noteworthy that Trump, Gov. Jim Pillen and Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb did not attack McDonough following his statement on Monday. The implication is that he now has political value to both parties.

Trump was unusually restrained, labeling McDonald a “Democrat-turned-Republican(?)” on social media – and so did Trump. He called MacDonald a “big watcher!” and suggested he might support MacDonald’s mayoral opponent.

Pillen on Tuesday acknowledged what the nation learned Monday, that McDonough’s no to winner-take-all approach prevented the governor from changing the state’s approach in time for the 2024 election.

The governor’s statement expressed disappointment that he could not get the 33 votes needed to break the promised filibuster. The Legislature has 33 Republicans, 15 Democrats and 1 progressive independent. Ballot whippers told others that if MacDonald did so, they expected the remaining Republican diehards to join them.

“My team and I worked tirelessly to secure a 33-vote majority that would allow for a winner-take-all vote before the November election,” Pillen said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we were unable to convince 33 state senators. “

partisan reaction

For years, local Republicans have argued that the state should join 48 other states in implementing a winner-take-all system. Republicans hold a 2-to-1 advantage over Democrats in statewide voter registration.

Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb addressed more than 50 delegates to the state Central Committee. (Aaron Sandford/Nebraska Examiner)

The Nebraska Republican Party said in a statement that it supports the winner-take-all winner more than the Republican presidential candidate. It argued the change would “protect Nebraska from dark money coming into Nebraska to influence elections and policy.”

“It’s clear that people’s voices are falling on deaf ears,” Nebraska Republican Party Chairman Eric Underwood said in a statement, arguing that elected leaders were acting against the wishes of rank-and-file Republicans.

Nebraska Democrats argue that Republicans are simply afraid of winning votes in the Omaha area because their ideas and candidates are less popular there. Both presidential campaigns have been in the 2nd District for months.

Cribb praised McDonald on Monday for withstanding the pressure. She suggested Democrats might consider helping McDonald if he advances in the nonpartisan mayoral primary and faces Republican Mayor Jean Stothert. Democratic candidate John Ewing is also running. Stothert supports winner-take-all, while Ewing opposes it.

McDonald laughed when asked if he was now on an island after hitting the third rail of bipartisan politics — supporting Democrats’ abortion restrictions and opposing Republicans’ winner-take-all approach to Trump .

“I may be the first state senator in six months to be censured by two different political parties,” McDonald said.

He said he has received some threatening messages from people, just as he did after the abortion debate last spring. He said there was enthusiasm for both the winner-take-all and the current system, but the level of pressure was not surprising.

He said he has no plans to leave the Republican Party. He said 90 percent of people on all sides were civil and professional about his decision, in part because he made his position clear when he became a Republican.

But in the end, he said he hopes people understand he did what he thought was best and that people in District 2 “want to be heard, and we want to be heard.”

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