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Trump allies make another push to change Nebraska's Electoral College law

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Trump allies make another push to change Nebraska's Electoral College law


A top Donald Trump ally is pressuring Nebraska Republicans to award all of their state’s Electoral College votes to the statewide winner, a late-stage rule change that could potentially help return Trump to the White House.

Nebraska and Maine are the only states that split their electoral votes by congressional district, and both have done so in recent presidential elections. In Nebraska, which is solidly Republican, that means one of the state’s five votes is competitive for Democrats.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., met recently with GOP lawmakers in the state to encourage them to make a change supported by the state’s all-Republican congressional delegation and Republican Gov. Jim Pillen. The change was discussed earlier this year but lacked the votes to pass. Now, with Trump in an extremely close race against Democrat Kamala Harris where every electoral vote matters, his allies are making another push.

“To my friends in Nebraska, that one electoral vote could be the difference between Harris being president and not, and she’s a disaster for Nebraska and the world,” Graham said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

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Trump’s allies have been calling on Nebraska Republicans for months to make a switch despite a lack of necessary support in the state legislature. But there’s new urgency to their push with fewer than 50 days until the election and Trump and Harris locked in a tight race across several battlegrounds.

There is a plausible scenario where the election ends up being decided by the voters in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, a swing district in the Omaha area.

This year, if Harris wins the three so-called blue wall battlegrounds of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania while Trump wins the four Sun Belt battlegrounds of North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, the result would be a 269-268 split in the Electoral College in favor of Harris.

Nebraska’s 2nd District, which went for President Joe Biden four years ago, could give Harris the decisive 270th electoral vote. Or, if Trump were to win, the election would end in a 269-269 tie. In that scenario, the president would be chosen by the House of Representatives, with each state’s delegation getting a single vote — a scenario that favors the former president.

The five Republicans who represent Nebraska in Congress urged their colleagues in the state to change the law in a letter dated Wednesday, saying “the state should speak with a united voice in presidential elections.”

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Any legislative change would require Pillen, the governor, to call lawmakers into a special session. He said in a statement he would “enthusiastically” do so if he gets a “clear and public indication” that there are 33 votes in favor, the minimum necessary to pass in Nebraska’s single legislative chamber.

Nebraska Democrats have started showing support for the state’s electoral vote split with yard signs showing a blue dot on a white background, symbolizing their potential role of the metro Omaha district as an island of blue surrounded by Republican red in the rest of Nebraska.

Republicans currently control 33 seats in the Legislature but they are not united in support. One of those Republicans, state Sen. Mike McDonnell, recently switched parties but still represents a district that includes Democrats who oppose an Electoral College switch.

What to know about the 2024 Election

A McDonnell spokesperson told KETV in Omaha on Thursday that the senator “has heard compelling arguments from both sides, and as of today, remains a ‘no.’”

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The system has long confounded Republicans, who have been unable to force the state into a winner-take-all system since Barack Obama became the first presidential contender to shave off one of the state’s five electoral votes in 2008. Biden in 2020 was the only other Democrat to capture Nebraska’s 2nd District electoral vote.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of a state senator’s name as Mike McDonnell, not McDonald.





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Nebraska

Nebraska baseball falls to 16th-ranked Kansas

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Nebraska baseball falls to 16th-ranked Kansas


LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – The Nebraska baseball team lost to Kansas 9-7 on Tuesday in front of a record crowd at Hoglund Park. The Huskers took an early lead on an RBI single by National Freshman of the Week Drew Grego. After giving up three unanswered runs, Nebraska rallied to go back in front on a 3rd-inning single by Will Jesske. Both Grego and Jesske finished with two hits in the game.

Kansas, however, took control in the middle innings. The Jayhawks got home runs from Tyson Owens and Josh Dykoff in the sixth frame. Both round-trippers came off NU relief pitcher Ty Horn. Kansas added insurance in the 7th inning before a late rally by the Huskers.

Nebraska trimmed a five-run deficit to two, but couldn’t complete the comeback on the road.

The Huskers’ loss is their second to the Jayhawks this season. Nebraska’s record drops to 31-10 overall.

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Will Bolt’s team returns to action on Friday at Illinois. Game one is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in Champaign.

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Copyright 2026 KOLN. All rights reserved.



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Nebraska jumps up to No. 2 in college softball Power 10 rankings

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Nebraska jumps up to No. 2 in college softball Power 10 rankings


Softball

April 21, 2026

Nebraska jumps up to No. 2 in college softball Power 10 rankings

April 21, 2026

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Check out Michella Chester’s updated college softball Power 10 rankings for the week of April 21, which sees Nebraska rise to No. 2 behind an 11-game win streak.



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Mental health by the numbers in Nebraska

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Mental health by the numbers in Nebraska


OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – A deeper look tonight as First Alert 6 continues to dig deeper into the state of mental health care in Nebraska and possible solutions, ever since last week’s two instances involving law enforcement.

A Douglas County sheriff’s deputy was shot responding to a domestic call. Investigators said the suspect, Brian Huggins, had a history of behavioral health issues. Huggins died by suicide.

And then Noemi Guzman, who police say kidnapped a 3-year-old from inside an Omaha Walmart and cut him in the arm and face with a stolen kitchen knife. Omaha police officers shot and killed her before she could strike again.

Guzman had been on a court-ordered mental health treatment plan since last summer for her schizophrenia. According to court records, psychiatrists determined she could live in the community. Remember, this was after she was arrested for setting her father’s house on fire and threatening a priest with a knife.

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Monitoring system

We wanted to know who is part of the system monitoring those who may not be following their mental health treatment plan and are a risk to others or themselves. When that happens, the Board of Mental Health will often notify the local sheriff so a warrant can be issued and deputies can track the individual down.

Here are the numbers since 2023:

In 2023, 842 warrants were issued for those not following their treatment plans according to the Board of Mental Health. In 2024, 756. In 2025, 690. So far in 2026, 190.

But out of these 2,500 warrants, 85% of them didn’t have a second warrant, meaning deputies picked them up, got them back into treatment and the individuals continued to thrive after the one hiccup.

But in 15% of these cases, the individuals messed up again and had another warrant issued by the Board of Mental Health. Twenty-five individuals had five or more issued in Douglas County.

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Sheriff Hanson said there has to be a better way, a more team approach for this.

One model to explore is the way Nebraska’s problem-solving courts work like drug court and veterans’ treatment court where experts from a variety of stakeholders help individuals who are on the fringes to do everything to make them productive citizens.

Copyright 2026 WOWT. All rights reserved.



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