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Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State Sen. Merv Riepe still the center of attention in Nebraska Legislature
State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, in his seventh year in the Nebraska Legislature, stands by a portrait in his Lincoln office memorializing his first campaign for the Legislature in 2014, including photos of his two grandchildren. Riepe served in the Legislature from 2015 to 2019, and he returned in 2023 with an independent streak in his service. March 11, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — State Sen. Merv Riepe, the Ralston lawmaker at the nexus of controversy the past three years since returning to the Nebraska Legislature, isn't afraid to go against his Republican colleagues. Riepe returned to the Legislature in January 2023 after losing a reelection bid to his predecessor in 2018. While his first term was more in line with the then-Nebraska Republican Party — which he notes was different, too — his return has positioned him differently, as more of an independent thinker and pivotal vote on many proposals, earning him the short-lived title of 'Hot Merv Summer.' From new abortion restrictions, Medicaid expansion and gender-related care to sports and bathrooms for transgender students, winner-take-all and criminal justice for teen offenders, the 82-year-old Riepe found a spotlight he says he never intended to seek. 'Hell no,' he says when asked whether he sought to often be the key '33rd vote' — the threshold to cut off debate on contentious measures. But he's not bashful in doing so. 'If I'm the 33rd vote to kill something, then I say, 'OK.' If I feel strongly about it, I will do that, regardless of what the consequences are,' Riepe told the Nebraska Examiner during a two-hour interview in his office last month. 'The only rule I've ever had is anyone can say anything about me, just don't say anything about my mom,' he continued. 'I don't want to be on the bench. I want to be in the game.' Nearly two years from when he killed a near-total abortion ban, and more than a year since he withheld a vote a sponsor needed to advance the 'Sports and Spaces Act' to restrict K-12 bathrooms and sports to students' sex at birth, Riepe's more independent flame could burn bright again this week. Tuesday marks a four-hour debate on Legislative Bill 3, which seeks to return Nebraska to 'winner-take-all' for its five Electoral College votes. Currently, just Nebraska and Maine split two presidential votes for the statewide winner and one presidential vote for the winner of each congressional district. Nebraska has split its votes three times — 2008, 2020 and 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris won Riepe's Ralston and Omaha district in November by 2.3% over President Donald Trump. She also won the 'blue dot' in the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District. Riepe is the only Republican in the Legislature representing a Harris-won legislative district. Yet Tuesday won't be the first time Riepe has voted on winner-take-all. He supported the change all four times it came up for a vote in 2015 and 2016. He also voted for it last year on a procedural attempt by former State Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar to attach the proposal to a different bill. In an April 2024 floor speech on Slama's efforts, Riepe said: 'A vote for winner-take-all might be the one critical vote to keep Sleepy Joe from the White House.' Riepe is four months older than former President Joe Biden. Last September, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., went to the Nebraska Governor's Mansion to give Gov. Jim Pillen backup in the continued push, connecting Riepe and Trump on a brief call. Riepe said Trump praised the governor and added: 'Senator Riepe, I've heard of you.' 'He never heard of me,' Riepe recalled last month with a laugh. 'I'm not so vain that I think that he — it was just what you say when you're schmoozing with someone.' Riepe that day signed on to support winner-take-all that fall, but Riepe said Pillen 'naively' took that signature as indicative of future support, which he called a 'bad assumption.' Pillen and his team shared screenshots of Riepe's past votes and the signature this weekend. 'It's like an Etch A Sketch, you pull it and it's gone, and we start over,' Riepe said. 'I don't consider that a flip-flop. I consider it a situational decision.' What was the difference in 2024? Harris and Biden. Riepe felt strongly that Harris was not 'even remotely qualified' and might be a 'puppet for some behind-the-scene bureaucratic process.' He said he refused to live with the idea that Nebraska's 'blue dot' could decide the election. Riepe gave Trump his vote, both in the pledged signature to Pillen and later at the ballot box. He said he wasn't 'head over heels' for Trump. But he was firmly against Harris. 'To keep her from coming in there if it meant my vote, I would throw myself on the fire to do that,' Riepe said. Riepe said he feels that people in his district want to keep the district model. Civic Nebraska hosted a 'community conversation' Monday night urging Nebraskans to share support for the current electoral method. Riepe said he had planned to attend that event in his district. Maine leaders have vowed to follow Nebraska if winner-take-all is enacted, Riepe noted, which he argued would be a 'sum-zero game.' 'So what have we done? We've just stirred the beehive for no honey,' Riepe said. Riepe described politics as a bell curve where most people fall in the center. He said he doesn't 'subscribe' to what he often considers 'extreme positions' of the NEGOP platform. State Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth, a farmer in his seventh year at the statehouse, said Riepe brings perspectives that he leans on. He calls Riepe a 'fun guy' with a 'thick hide.' 'He makes up his mind and he sticks with it, I really admire that about him,' Brandt said. 'It would take some very solid logic to get him off of his position.' State Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward, who was elected alongside Riepe in 2022, described Riepe as a 'fiscal hawk' and said that 'for being the oldest senator, he has the strongest backbone.' Riepe described his political position as 'center, slightly right.' He has often said he's a 'compassionate conservative.' He considers himself moderate but isn't a typical swing vote. Brandt and others have similarly fallen into the 'moderate' category, but he rejected the label. 'I see us as the Republicans,' Brandt said. 'Maybe the other ones are out of step, and maybe we're in step.' Riepe has supported reducing unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 16 weeks, and he's advancing a criminal justice package backed by Pillen this year to lower the age at which juveniles can be detained or charged as adults. He also helped with property tax negotiations in the summer of 2024 but criticized the fast-paced and ever-changing process as a 'jump-and-the-net-will-appear' philosophy. Riepe, a farm kid who joined the U.S. Navy hospital corpsmen at the age of 17 in 1960 and served until just before his 21st birthday, came back and worked his way through school. He said he always intended to be a hospital administrator, as he did until his retirement in 2008. He held top roles at Bergen Mercy Medical Center and what is now Children's Nebraska. Health care has dominated Riepe's focus in the Legislature, such as: Expanding options for direct primary care. Adding blood testing options for pregnant women to fight syphilis. Funding respite facilities for eligible homeless adults in Lincoln and Omaha. Allowing emergency medical services to care for and transport injured Nebraska K-9s. Riepe also takes a narrow view on expanding Medicaid, opposing an in-progress bill to cap the costs of epinephrine injectors for severe allergic reactions while having previously brought a measure to expand Medicaid coverage to include obesity for potential cost savings. He also opposed a 2023 bill to repeal the state's helmet law for motorcyclists, citing potential Medicaid costs. Partnering with Hughes, Riepe has defended a currently stalled partnership with Iowa for a prescription drug donation program, potentially for Medicaid savings. Riepe also predated Hughes in seeking to combat youth tobacco use and vaping. State Sen. John Fredrickson, a progressive who like Riepe represents a more purple district in Omaha, described Riepe as a 'wildcat' because it can be hard to know where he might land on certain topics. To some that might be 'wishy-washy,' Fredrickson said, yet Riepe is the 'exact opposite.' 'I think he's someone who is curious. We joke that he's Curious George, and he's someone who I hope, when I'm Merv's age, that I am still wanting to learn as much as he is,' said Fredrickson, who is 38. Fredrickson, vice chair of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee, said he's a better lawmaker because of Riepe and that the two help one another, especially on an all-male committee for the first time since 2004. Riepe chaired the HHS Committee in 2017 and 2018 and lost a bid to return on a 28-21 vote this January. Riepe's fascination with health also got him reading more about abortion in 2023, leading to his 'change of heart' from LB 626, which sought to ban nearly all abortions after an ultrasound detected embryonic cardiac activity. He viewed that as a 'total abortion ban' before most women know they're pregnant. He signaled his opposition early and pushed for a 12-week cutoff. He has said that if his 2022 election had gone just a few more weeks, citing headwinds after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, he might have lost. During the second-round debate on LB 626 in April 2023, Riepe tried to force a vote on his 12-week amendment. Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly, instead of putting the motion to an immediate vote as he typically does, ruled there hadn't been 'full and fair debate.' 'I tell you what, I was mad,' Riepe said. Reflecting on the vote last month, Riepe paused and walked over to grab a coffee mug from his office. It bore the German flag and read: 'Never underestimate the power of a stubborn German.' Riepe said his independent streak had started before that LB 626 debate, but the maneuvering around his amendment 'was the straw that broke the camel's back.' 'It made me so angry that they had maneuvered to not even give me a shot,' Riepe said. 'They were that determined to not only kill my bill but in essence shut me up, and that really, that may have been the trigger that made me say, 'Fine, you want to smack me, I'll smack you back.'' When the allotted four hours passed on former Thurston State Sen. Joni Albrecht's LB 626, Riepe withheld his vote, and so entered 'Hot Merv Summer,' a term used by abortion-rights advocates, including on T-shirts, praising Riepe for torpedoing the stricter measure. Riepe said he got one of the shirts and wore it once, to the end-of-session legislative party in 2023. Riepe's non-vote and opposition to LB 626 earned him a censure from the NEGOP, a local billboard from Students for Life Action calling for his resignation, the loss of his Nebraska Right to Life endorsement and an open letter in the McCook Gazette from a southwestern Nebraska county party chair blasting Riepe for an '11th-hour bargain with the Devil.' 'Senator Riepe, you shall be remembered as a shadow of a man, who prized political expediency over integrity,' Bruce Desautels, then-chair of the Hitchcock County Republican Party, wrote in May 2023. 'As went the legacy of Judas Iscariot and General Benedict Arnold, yours shall ever be synonymous with dishonor and betrayal.' Riepe said he didn't feel threatened after that vote but did have people show up at his house and church. Pillen, who supported LB 626, offered security if it became a problem, Riepe said. One of the people that Riepe earned praise from was his son, who told his father: 'It's one of my proudest moments to be your son, that you had the guts to take that kind of a vote.' With a laugh, Riepe said he replied: 'Well, that's good. So I can expect something nice for Father's Day?' Riepe said he wears the censure as a 'badge of courage' that helps in his purple district, and he joked that at least the southwest Omaha billboard featured a nice picture of him. 'Being a stubborn German, give me an ultimatum, I'm just stubborn enough I'm likely to go the opposite way,' Riepe said. Behind the scenes, Riepe continued working with conservatives to find a path forward for abortion restrictions, which became the current law: 12 weeks tied to gestational age. The abortion language was added to LB 574, which on its own prohibited gender transition surgeries for minors and restricted youths with gender dysphoria from accessing certain medications. Riepe said his support for LB 574, beyond abortion, had come after meeting a family who said their two-year-old child was transgender, which he said left him speechless. He said he was concerned that age was too early to know. The new amendment was filed May 8, ending 'Hot Merv Summer' just 11 days later. Abortion and gender care restrictions were combined on May 16, 2023, in what State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha described as one of the worst days of her life. She warned Riepe against supporting the measures and said women and children would die. She told supporters: 'You will have buckets and buckets of blood on your hands.' Cavanaugh said it was heartbreaking and 'really, really, really difficult to move past,' yet Riepe reflected and said he regretted not pushing harder to include fatal fetal anomalies as an exception and not fighting to explicitly repeal criminal penalties against doctors for abortions. Riepe tried to do so in 2024 but had few political allies to help move the measure forward. 'Obviously, I'm still upset. We can't go back and undo it. But there is something in acknowledging our mistakes and trying to do better moving forward,' Cavanaugh said. 'While it was a horrible moment, I think it also resulted in a great deal of growth for him.' LB 574 passed May 19, cementing a summer of, as Riepe offered: 'He's not as hot as we thought.'. Cavanaugh and Riepe both served on the HHS Committee in 2023, where the two had a relationship akin to Statler and Waldorf, two grouchy older Muppets often seen from the balcony of a theater, Cavanaugh said. It was a relationship similar to Fredrickson and Riepe now, rooted, they said, in good policy. 'He's one of the rare animals in here who you can still actually engage in thoughtful policy discussion with and who will come to the table and have those conversations,' Fredrickson said. Legislation impacting transgender Nebraskans would again be debated in 2024, with Riepe placing himself at the center of that debate, too — LB 575, or the 'Sports and Spaces Act' from State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area. While LB 574 and LB 626 were fought publicly, Riepe had privately raised caution in a March 2023 memo to Kauth, suggesting that they leave the fight up to the State Board of Education while quoting a Chinese general that 'The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.' The issue would wait until April 2024, after Riepe had spent months meeting with families and continuing to read. He remarked during the debate that trans students and families were seeking accommodations, not attention. He asked how to know a child's chromosomes by looking at them: 'Are they like shirt sizes? Are they an 'X' and a double 'X' or triple 'X,' and what are they?' Riepe and Brandt were the two Republican senators to be 'present, not voting' on the bill, ending its chances for the year. Riepe maintains his 'leaning' opposition to the latest version of Kauth's bill, the 'Stand With Women Act,' LB 89. It could come up for debate at any time. Riepe has said he holds that position partly because of executive action by Trump forcing schools to restrict sports to students' sex at birth or risk federal funding. Riepe said he wants a national solution, not a state-by-state patchwork. Kauth, who succeeded Riepe as chair of the Business and Labor Committee, said she respects Riepe and 'his right to vote his conscience, whether it's the same worldview as mine or not.' 'We have more in common than we do apart and have worked together on important issues and will do so in the future,' she said in a text. Riepe knows he is the oldest member of the Nebraska Legislature. But he walks in parades and goes door to door in part to prove he has the stamina, he says, and that he can still put two sentences together. 'I'm not some babbling old fool,' Riepe said. 'I'm just an old fool.' Whether Riepe runs for reelection in 2026 is still up in the air, largely depending on his health and whether his wife is agreeable, he says smiling. He feels good where he is at and has communicated to others, including the governor's office, that they're in a 'tough spot' should they try to primary him. 'You can't run someone to the right of me, really, and ever get elected,' Riepe said. 'And you're not going to run somebody on the left.' Should Riepe run and win reelection, he would be 88 by the time he is term-limited at the end of 2030. But should he lose, or decide against running, he won't 'go home and cry.' Instead, he said he'll try to figure out which hardware store he can go to and 'sort nuts and bolts.' Asked how he wants to be remembered, Riepe said: 'He was a decent guy who appreciated some humor and, hopefully, was a reasonable individual who was a good parent, a good husband and things that are above and more important than the Legislature. I don't want them at my funeral saying, 'I know ol' Riepe would have wished he would have spent another session stuck on the floor during some filibuster.'' 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Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nebraska Legislature to debate winner-take-all bill Tuesday, but unlikely to have enough votes
Gov. Jim Pillen has successfully pressured the Nebraska Legislature into again discussing a winner-take-all proposal. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — The Nebraska statehouse is set to debate a bill and perhaps a related constitutional amendment Tuesday seeking to alter how the state awards Electoral College votes for president. Legislative Bill 3 was pushed out of the Government, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee on March 10, after pressure from the governor, whose political future with President Donald Trump could depend on whether he delivers winner-take-all. Despite this week's political theater and pressure from state and nationwide Republicans, the bill and the separate constitutional amendment are likely dead on arrival. State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City is unlikely to have the 33 votes needed to overcome a promised filibuster. The same holdouts from earlier in the legislative session haven't budged from opposing the change. As of Monday afternoon, Lippincott said he doesn't yet have the votes for LB 3. 'I have not seen any change, but I remain hopeful,' Lippincott told the Nebraska Examiner. Nebraska is one of just two states — Maine is the other — that parcel out some electoral votes to the winner of the presidential popular vote in each congressional district. The district approach, adopted in Nebraska in 1991, has led to Democrats claiming a single electoral vote from the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District three times — in 2008, 2020, and 2024. Republicans have won the rest, including two for winning statewide. The Nebraska Democratic Party, which has dubbed the 2nd District the 'Blue Dot,' calls LB 3 and the related constitutional amendment an attempt to 'suppress the voices of Nebraskans' and said it would 'work hard to ensure this bill fails.' Some rural Republicans have shared concerns about one day losing 'their voice' under winner-take-all as the state becomes more urban and suburban over time. Gov. Jim Pillen is using the same tactic he did with the Government Committee, which he pressed to advance the bill to the floor for debate. On Thursday, he released a statement on X saying all Unicameral Republicans need to 'stand together as a team.' Republicans hold 33 of the 49 seats in the officially nonpartisan Legislature. 'President Trump has called for the restoration of WTA, as have the majority of Nebraskans across our state.' Pillen wrote in the post. 'I call upon our Republican Senators to answer this call and vote to advance WTA. In particular, I hope that veteran Senator Merv Riepe stands with his fellow Republicans on this critical issue.' State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, who often proves a pivotal vote on controversial legislation, has been the loudest holdout on winner-take-all. He was one of the holdouts Trump called in 2024, when the then-presidential candidate was trying to convince senators to support Pillen's 11th-hour push for winner-take-all. Two months before the 2024 election, Pillen held a meeting on winner-take-all at the Governor's Mansion with at least two dozen Republican state senators about securing support and trying to convince holdouts. The push was killed by then-State Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha, a former Democrat and union leader who had pledged when he changed parties and became a Republican to keep the status quo but flirted with changing his mind. McDonnell decided not to support the change, saying he didn't want to disrupt the money and attention that presidential politics brings to the Omaha area. He has since been term-limited from office and lost a recent primary bid for Omaha mayor. With McDonell term-limited and replaced by State Sen. Margo Juarez of Omaha, Riepe is taking the brunt of the political pressure this go-round. He reaffirmed his stance and intent to vote against the bill and the constitutional amendment during a mini press conference Thursday, saying his voters had expressed their appreciation for how the state stands out because of its electoral system. 'I feel like my family name is on the line,' Riepe told reporters. State Sen. Dave Wordekemper of Fremont, who voted to advance the bill out of committee, is also likely to vote no but has expressed interest in letting the voters decide via the proposed state constitutional amendment, LR24CA. State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams has proposed that approach, which the committee also advanced to the floor. LR24CA is not scheduled for debate Tuesday but could be discussed as a potential fallback position. 'At minimum, WTA deserves a fair up-or-down vote on its merits by the people's representatives, not to be smothered by a filibuster led by ultra-liberal Democrats,' Pillen said in last week's statement. Another indicator of the bill's difficult path is that Speaker John Arch of La Vista announced he is limiting floor debate on LB 3 to four hours Thursday, because most members have already determined how they will vote. Typical bills are given eight hours on the first round of debate. 'I do not believe a drawn-out eight-hour debate benefits this body or anyone on either side of the issue,' he said. State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln has already filed motions to indefinitely postpone, bracket, and send the bill back to committee before Tuesday's debate, a hint that Democrats and others opposed to the change are prepared to follow through on a promised filibuster. State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha told Nebraska Public Media that the LB 3 debate would be a waste of time because the proposal lacks support. 'The people in the state of Nebraska have been clear that they like the system that we use,' Cavanaugh said. Recently, a Democratic state lawmaker in Maine proposed a bill in their state's Legislature that would move Maine back to winner-take-all if Nebraska switches as a way of 'protecting' Maine's voices and voters. Riepe said that Maine's push to change the system would offset any 'advantage' Republicans would gain if Nebraska switched to winner-take-all. He added that he wished more states did their Electoral College system by district because 'it's closer to a popular vote.' 'I'm not ready to give up on that,' Riepe said. The state's Republicans have pushed for winner-take-all for decades. The effort gained new steam after Trump and surrogates expressed support during his 2024 campaign. Now, with Trump back in the White House and his grip on GOP politics strengthened, people in Pillen's orbit have said he wants to make sure Trump does not endorse Trump donor and friend Charles Herbster in the 2026 GOP primary for governor if Herbster runs. Pillen defeated Herbster in the 2022 GOP primary for governor despite Herbster having Trump's endorsement. But he had help from then-Gov. Pete Ricketts, now a U.S. senator. Debate over LB3 is set to begin by 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nebraska lawmakers respond to Gov. Jim Pillen's pressure on winner-take-all
Gov. Jim Pillen is greeted by members of the Nebraska Legislature during his annual State of the State speech. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — Gov. Jim Pillen successfully pressured Nebraska lawmakers to discuss a bill early next week that would alter how the state awards Electoral College votes for president after multiple efforts fell short in recent years. During Thursday morning's legislative session, Pillen took to social media, on X, and urged his supporters to contact senators on the Government, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee to advance Legislative Bill 3 to the full Legislature. That bill would return the state to its previous system of awarding all five of its electoral votes for president to the winner of the statewide popular vote. 'Passing Winner Take All is a priority for President Trump, and it is mine as well,' Pillen posted on X. He added that the committee was 'preventing the full Legislature from giving it fair and open consideration.' By the end of the day, State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City, who filed LB 3 and made it his priority bill for the session, said the committee would hold an executive session on Monday morning, as first reported by Lincoln Journal Star. Lippincott told the Nebraska Examiner on Friday that he is grateful for the 'opportunity to try and get Nebraska back to the same rules' as the rest of the country. The committee also will consider a proposed amendment to the state constitution from State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams, allowing voters to decide whether to change to winner-take-all. It would take five votes to advance either measure out of the eight-member committee, but a senator could attempt to pull a bill out of a committee if it ends up in gridlock. 'Our governor, U.S. senators, our secretary of state, treasurer and auditor serve the whole state and are elected by the whole state,' Lippincott said. 'The U.S. president also serves the whole state and should be elected by the popular vote of the whole state.' Nebraska is just one of the two states — Maine is the other — that parcel out some electoral votes by the winner in each of the state's congressional districts. The approach, adopted in Nebraska in 1991, has led to Democrats claim a single electoral vote from the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District three times — in 2008, 2020 and 2024. Nebraska Democrats have dubbed the 2nd District the 'Blue Dot.' The Nebraska Democratic Party has called this bill an attempt to 'suppress the voices of Nebraskans' and 'will work hard to ensure this bill fails.' The state's Republicans have pushed for winner-take-all for decades, but the effort has gained steam since Trump expressed support for the initiative during his 2024 campaign. It's unlikely Lippincott has the 33 votes needed to overcome a promised filibuster, which could grind the Legislature to a halt, at least for a time. However, the latest push likely signals that Pillen's political future with Trump could depend on whether he can deliver winner-take-all. With Trump back in the White House and his grip on GOP politics strengthened, people in Pillen's orbit have said he wants to keep Trump from endorsing if Trump donor and friend Charles Herbster jumps into the Republican primary for governor in 2026. Pillen defeated Herbster in the 2022 GOP primary for governor despite Herbster having Trump's endorsement. Pillen's 11th-hour push for winner-take-all in 2024 was killed by former State Sen. Mike McDonell of Omaha. He decided not to support it, saying he didn't want to disrupt the money and attention that presidential politics brings the Omaha area. Now, his no vote is a part of a controversy in his bid for Omaha mayor. Two months before the 2024 presidential election, Pillen held a meeting on winner-take-all at the Governor's Mansion with at least two dozen Republican state senators about securing support and trying to convince holdouts. Trump even called some of the holdouts. Pillen told senators the importance of Trump winning the election and securing all of Nebraska's electoral votes, as national polls at the time showed a tight race between Trump and the Democratic nominee, former Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris ended up winning the 2nd District, but Trump won Nebraska statewide. He also won the swing states and the popular vote. Lippincott said earlier this session that he felt more optimistic about his latest attempt to change how the state awards electoral votes, because term limits and elections had changed the faces in the Legislature, and there is no presidential election this year. During the hearing for LB 3, some rural Republicans shared concerns about losing 'their voice' under winner-take-all if the state becomes more urban and Democratic over time. Committee member State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha, said the bill would 'diminish the value of the votes' of some voters. This week, Lippincott said Nebraska was following 'a trend' when it implemented its district-based electoral system, but it didn't catch on and 'put us out of step' with the nation. 'If it was such a great idea, why isn't the rest of the nation following suit?' he asked. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Defenders of Nebraska's ‘blue dot' come out in force against winner-take-all at hearing
A crowd of testifiers waits to speak to the Legislature's Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee Thursday about proposals to shift how the state awards its Electoral College votes. (Courtesy of Tom Becka) LINCOLN — Nebraskans came out in big numbers Thursday to criticize — but mostly to defend — the state's unusual system of awarding Electoral College votes for president by congressional district. State Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue, chair of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, anticipated overflow crowds and made space for them in an adjacent room and hall. But many would-be testifiers left before speaking, with some expressing frustration about long lines. Many of those who stayed represented political parties or civic groups. Differences were palpable in the first public hearing on the issue without the urgency of 2024 election-related pressure from President Donald Trump or his campaign surrogates. Chief among Thursday's differences was the makeup of testifiers: More people spoke this time in support of preserving the current district method of awarding electoral votes than testified against it. Last year, Trump spoke with Nebraska state senators, as did local consultants helping his campaign. That was when both parties worried the Omaha area might break a national tie in the Electoral College. Trump was still a factor this week, with fears of the president's displeasure motivating Gov. Jim Pillen before a possible 2026 GOP primary race with a top Trump donor, Charles Herbster. Legislative Bill 3 by State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City would shift Nebraska to awarding all five of the state's electoral votes to the statewide winner of the presidential popular vote. Nebraska and Maine, uniquely among states, award a single electoral vote to the winner of the presidential popular vote in each congressional district. The other 48 states award all electoral votes to the statewide winner, which is often called 'winner-take-all.' Legislative Resolution 24CA, a proposed constitutional amendment from State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams, would have voters consider a similar change. Pillen's policy research director, Kenny Zoeller, testified in support of Lippincott's LB 3. He argued Nebraskans should move to winner-take-all and need to retain the flexibility to change again in the future, which Zoeller said a constitutional amendment like Dorn's LR 24CA wouldn't allow. 'The promised benefits of the current system have been exaggerated or just not met,' Zoeller said. Most Republicans who spoke backed the Nebraska Republican Party's decades-long push to shift to winner-take-all. Most Democrats backed the Nebraska Democratic Party's change from the 1990s under former Gov. Ben Nelson that split the state's electoral votes. And some Nebraskans bucked party and geography, including Warren Phelps, chair of the Cheyenne County GOP who said he wants to keep the district system so rural Republicans in the 3rd Congressional District always have a voice. He said the GOP majority in the officially nonpartisan Legislature should consider the changing demographics in the state and the population growth in the Omaha and Lincoln areas. He said Republicans might one day appreciate having the district system if the state blues up over time. He said he and other rural Republicans do not 'want to be drowned out.' 'Competition makes everybody better,' Phelps said, adding that the GOP should compete for Omaha votes. 'It forces candidates to come up with ideas. Ideas that … help the whole country.' Ron Cunningham, who described himself as a longtime Republican, argued that no Nebraskan should want other people's votes to count less and that the district system works. 'Republicans continue to talk about and promote unity and fairness, but they don't want those votes to count,' Cunningham said. Michael Tiedeman, a Sarpy County Republican, said the state GOP wants the change to reduce the amount of outside spending on Nebraska elections, including the presidential race. He said keeping the so-called 'blue dot' would lead to greater competition during redistricting to gerrymander the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District that's been up for grabs. He pointed to suburban, exurban and rural Washington County as an example of what could happen. That county has been in all three of the state's U.S. House districts in recent decades. 'This district was a political experiment that did not make sense in the 1990s, and it does not make sense in 2025,' Tiedeman said. 'Please get this bill out of committee.' Jeanne Reigle, a former legislative candidate from Madison who is government relations director of the Nebraska GOP, said the outside spending concentrates more money and power in the east. She said small rural communities and their needs too often get drowned out by the national and local focus on reporting from the up-for-grabs 2nd Congressional District. 'They're hurting,' Reigle said. 'They're dwindling. There are very few rural senators left. And very few left involved with agriculture.' Liz Abel, who lives in 'blue dot' territory in Omaha, said she supports winner-take-all. The Republican said dividing Nebraska's electoral votes 'splinters our electorate' and adds to divisions between rural and urban Nebraska. She also said she would like to receive less campaign mail from Democrats like former President Joe Biden or nonpartisans like former U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn. She said she hoped getting rid of the district system in ruby red Republican Nebraska might lead Democrats to spend their money elsewhere. 'I believe having a split vote diminishes our state's influence,' Abel said. Preston Love Jr., a civil rights activist in North Omaha who ran for U.S. Senate as a Democrat, said the move by the majority feels to him and others like voter suppression. He echoed statements from the campaign trail where he said black and brown Nebraskans already vote in lower numbers and getting rid of district-level electoral votes would depress turnout. Democrats and Republicans split the past five presidential elections in the 2nd District, with Democrats winning the district in 2024, 2020 and 2008 and Republicans winning it in 2016 and 2012. Republicans won statewide each time. 'Listen to a segment of your community, your state, a whole congressional district to let our votes count,' Love said. 'I think everyone in Congressional District 2 feels that way. 'Are you just ignoring us?' Melina Arroyo, who said it was her first time speaking to a legislative committee, told senators Nebraska should not change what makes it stand apart in a good way from others. She said voters benefit from the attention being paid to a state that in no other way would qualify as a swing state. Republicans outnumber Democrats more than 2 to 1, with nonpartisans growing. She said the district system 'ensures that the voices of all Nebraskans are heard.' Arroyo argued that voters of every political persuasion feel more involved here. 'It shows that we value diversity and fairness in how votes are cast and counted,' she said. Lippincott, a Republican, said he was encouraged to see the turnout, that it showed a government for the people. He argued that 'having winner-take-all is unifying.' Dorn said he would support Lippincott's bill but that his proposed constitutional amendment should be treated as a fallback position in case LB 3 stalls. State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha, a Democrat, said there was nothing unifying about wanting to 'diminish the value of the votes of these people.' The Government Committee still must vote on whether to move the measures to the legislative floor. That vote could come as early as Friday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
