Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that apportion their Electoral College vote in presidential elections by congressional district rather than the winner-take-all approach used by the other states — arguably a fairer approach, since winner-take-all effectively disenfranchises voters who didn’t support the winning candidate. When pro-Trump forces tried to change Nebraska’s system to a winner-take-all system, the Media Research Center complained that the partisan campaign was called out. Nicholas Fondacaro whined in an April 4 post:
CNN’s Inside Politics was in a panic on Thursday over the “entirely possible” scenario that President Biden’s reelection (and thus the fate of America, the world, the known universe, the multiverse, and humanity’s re-admittance into Eden) hinged on one electoral vote in Nebraska. Meanwhile, the state’s proposed shift to a winner-take-all system for electoral college votes would put it in line with 48 other states, or 96 percent of states.
“Now, imagine this: a 269 to 269 tie in the electoral college that could become much more likely if Nebraska changes how it awards electoral votes. This week, Donald Trump and his allies are pressuring state lawmakers to do just that,” host Dana Bash fretted, trying to stoke fear in viewers.
Breaking down why she was so paranoid, Bash explained that Nebraska and Maine were the only two states in the union that proportioned electoral college votes based on congressional districts. “Switching to a winner-take-all system could strip Biden of an electoral vote that he won in 2020. And this election could very well come down to that single electoral college vote,” she said, betraying that her fear was a victory for former President Trump.
CNN national political reporter Daniel Strauss tried to talk Bash off the ledge by noting that advocates for the switch were struggling with a number of procedural hurdles[.]
Comedy cop Alex Christy similarly complained in an April 5 post that late-night shows called out the partisan campaign:
Some in Nebraska have tried, and ultimately failed, to change the way the state awards its electoral votes and bring it in line with 48 other states. Among those in favor of moving away from a proportional allocation to a winner-take-all system is Donald Trump, which led Comedy Central’s Desi Lydic to label him a “pathetic worm” on Thursday’s edition of The Daily Show.
Lydic is also not a fan of the electoral college itself, as she claimed, “The president is decided by the electoral college, the incredibly overcomplicated system that our founders came up with as a prank on future generations.”
It really is not all that complicated, Lydic just doesn’t like it because she views it as disadvantageous to liberals. Still, Lydic elaborated, “Most states award all their electoral votes to whoever wins the state, but Nebraska splits theirs up by district. And in 2020, that meant Joe Biden received an electoral vote from liberal Omaha. Because as it turns out, every state has a Brooklyn. But now Donald Trump has realized that he wants that vote, and that could make all the difference.”
Of course, it could easily be argued that Christy and Fondacaro are hyping this attempt at change because they view it as advantageous to conservatives. Christy then lashed out at a Nebraska state senator who opposed the change:
Lydic then played a montage of clips about the news, the last of which was of state Sen. Megan Hunt, who claims to be an independent, declaring that “Pathetic worm Donald Trump thinks that he knows what’s best for Nebraska and what Nebraskans want [jump cut] but this man [jump cut] obviously wants this electoral vote because he’s so scared he can’t win the presidency without it.”
Hunt is the kind of independent whose Twitter bio reads, in part, “Bi queen. She/her. Free Palestine.” She’s also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Christy appears not to be aware that Nebraska has a nonpartisan legislature in which candidates are not identified by party label, so technically every state legislator is an “independent.” Still, Christy continued to whine that another late-night show broached the subject:
Meanwhile, over at CBS and The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert was also lamenting possible changes to Nebraska’s system, “Trump himself is taking every angle he can to try to weasel his way back into the White House. He’s even pressuring the state of Nebraska to change how it awards electoral votes. Always a bad sign when your campaign strategy is to bully individual states.”
Christy was still grousing about that “Daily Show” segment in a May 14 post when Lydic appeared on “CBS Mornings” to promote the show:
Co-host and Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition cover model Gayle King began the segment by introducing Lydic, “Viewers know her for her dry sense of humor and clever takes on politics and current events. She is hilarious. She joined the Emmy Award-winning show in 2015. Recently, she poked fun at Nebraska for being one of only two states that splits its electoral votes by congressional district rather than the winner takes all.”
In the clip that CBS showed, Lydic was actually arguing that Nebraska’s system is better than a winter-take-all and condemning those who sought to switch to such a system. Her main point, however, was that the Electoral College should be done away with and replaced with the popular vote, which King eagerly embraced, “I think she might be onto something.”
Christy didn’t explain why doing away with the Electoral College in favor of a direct vote would be such a bad thing (if you’re not a Republican, anyway).