Senator introduces winner-take-all legislation in Nebraska Unicameral

A Nebraska state senator introduced a bill on Thursday to change the state’s electoral vote allocation to winner-take-all.

Sen. Loren Lippincott’s LB3 would end Nebraska’s practice of allocating some electoral votes by congressional district. Maine is the only other state to award electoral votes the same way.

Lippincott said winner-take all and the Electoral College give rural Americans a voice in presidential politics.

"Winner-take-all has the same importance as the Electoral College and also the U.S. Senate, and that is this: It ensures that the voice of rural America is heard and is not overshadowed by large population centers," he said.

Lippincott introduced his bill on behalf of Gov. Jim Pillen, who included it as one of his four legislative priorities for 2025.

Similar legislation has been introduced multiple times in recent years, and there was a renewed push for winner-take-all ahead of the 2024 election. That came up short when Democrat turned Republican Sen. Mike McDonnell said he would not vote for the bill during a special session.

Lippincott hopes this session will be different without a presidential election looming and 17 new state senators in office.

"There were some people that were holding out prior to this, because they did not want to be seen as being stiff armed or pressured by candidates running for president," he said. "That's no longer an issue right now."

Lippincott said he also plans on meeting with new state senators about his bill.

"We have those two different dynamics that really make this new session a session that we're very hopeful that we can get winner-take-all across the finish line,” he said.

Pillen thanked Lippincott for his leadership on the issue and said the bill has his full support.

"Our experiment with the current system of electoral vote allocation has divided Nebraska and diminished our voice in the most important national exercise in democracy that we undertake, electing a Commander-in-Chief," the governor said. "The time is now to fix this, well in advance of the next presidential election cycle."

Pillen said he looks forward to signing the bill into law this session.

But before that happens, the bill will likely need the support of 33 senators. With only 33 Republicans in the officially nonpartisan legislature, one defection could doom the proposal, and some Republican senators still need convincing.

Lippincott was elected as chair of the Rules Committee Wednesday and he floated the idea of reducing the number of senators needed to override a filibuster to 30, representing three-fifths of the body. However, it would still take two-thirds of senators to support lowering the threshold.

"That will have to go through the sausage-making process to find out whether or not we want to change that number and make it lower or not," he said. "That's an uphill battle, but we're looking at all those different types of ideas right now," he said.

Civic Nebraska, a nonprofit civic advocacy group, called the winner-take all legislation a "solution in search of a problem."

"Nebraskans must oppose this bill, which dilutes their voices and moves the state away from fairer representation in presidential elections," a statement read.

A public hearing on the bill will occur sometime before March 28. Hearings begin Jan. 22.