Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is returning to his Nebraskan roots Saturday for a rally right outside of Omaha, where a single electoral vote could impact the outcome of the presidential race. The Omaha-anchored 2nd Congressional District is a blue dot in a sea of Nebraska red, and the state is one of two – along with Maine – that divide Electoral College votes by congressional district, rather than statewide, winner-take-all rules.
Saturday’s event marks the first time Walz, a Nebraska native who moved to Minnesota nearly three decades ago, has visited the state since joining Harris on the Democratic ticket. Of this year’s presidential battlegrounds, if Vice President Kamala Harris carries the so-called blue wall states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania and former President Donald Trump wins Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada, the outcome of Nebraska’s 2nd District could likely tip the balance and keep the race from ending in an electoral tie. (In the case of a tie, the House of Representatives would decide the winner.)
President Joe Biden carried the electoral vote from the state’s 2nd Congressional District in 2020. And Trump has been pushing Nebraska Republicans to change the state’s election law. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, has said he was open to calling a special legislative session dedicated to making his state’s presidential contest a winner-take-all affair — with the caveat that he has sufficient support in the legislature — which would all but assure that Trump would collect the full lot of electoral votes.
Nebraska Republican officials have not closed the door to trying to change the rules this year, even with less than three months remaining until Election Day.
