Senior Donald Trump campaign strategist Chris LaCivita made a glaring error on Thursday when he expressed hope that Republicans in Nebraska could rewrite state election rules to prevent President Joe Biden from earning any electors there.
According to Patrick Svitek of The Washington Post, "Trump campaign chief Chris LaCivita suggests Nebraska could still change to winner-take-all before November: 'Watch what's going on in Omaha,' he says at CNN-Politico Grill at RNC. 'That ain't over yet.' He notes state lawmakers have a special session coming up."
Only one problem: Omaha is the largest city in Nebraska, but not the capital. Lincoln is the capital.
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"Do they still think Omaha is where the legislature is?" wrote @zophycakes on X. Another user, @MadViolinist454, wrote, "I hope they know that Omaha isn't the city where laws are passed. The again folks who don't care about people wouldn't know what the state capital is."
Nebraska, despite being a heavily friendly state for Trump, is one of two states, along with Maine, where electoral votes are awarded by congressional district instead of on a winner-takes-all basis, with the two electoral votes for the Senate seats going to the winner of the state overall. In recent years, the 2nd District, which covers Omaha, has seen a sharp swing to the left, and Biden became the first Democrat since Barack Obama in 2008 to carry that district.
This has led Trump, along with GOP governor Jim Pillen, to push for moving to a winner-take-all system to advantage Republicans in the election. However, Nebraska's state senators overwhelmingly rejected the proposal when it was brought up last year.
The upcoming special session to which LaCivita is referring is being called to work on tax reform, although it is not out of the question that lawmakers could bring up the electors bill again in that particular instance.
