Just twice since the law changed in 1992 has red Nebraska awarded one of its five electoral college votes to the Democratic presidential candidate, and both times it came from Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses Omaha.
Now, after Harris’s surge through the late summer, Democrats and Republicans alike see a chance for the Omaha area to vote for the Democratic candidate a third time — and maybe even swing the presidential election.
Under that not-completely-crazy possibility, Harris and former president Donald Trump could end up dividing up states so evenly that the electoral count could end up at 269 for Harris, 268 for Trump.
And then the final vote could be decided right here in Omaha.
“Well, we can be the tiebreaking vote for the presidency and people take it really seriously,” said state Sen. Tony Vargas (D), who is challenging the district’s four-term incumbent Rep. Don Bacon (R) in a race to help determine the House majority. “The energy is just incredible.
And people take both these things very, very seriously, as a point of pride.”
Trump’s campaign has simply surrendered this district, despite winning it in 2016 and losing to Biden here by just 6 percent in 2020. The state legislature even redrew it to be a little less favorable for Democrats.
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