LINCOLN — There are a lot of ways to run a presidential campaign.
In recent weeks the Harris Walz campaign has been barnstorming the second district, hosting numerous in-person events, phone banks and rallies to support the Harris/Walz ticket.
For the Trump campaign the presence on the ground hasn’t been felt as much. The Trump campaign has opened an office in Omaha and JD Vance made a stop for a private fundraiser in August, the same week that Tim Walz held a rally that was attended by thousands.
But that doesn’t mean the Trump campaign isn’t focused on CD2 and its electoral college vote.
“I hope the people of Nebraska understand this might come down to a single electoral vote,” said Senator Lindsey Graham.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina made an unusual stop in Lincoln on Wednesday where, along with Governor Jim Pillen, he lobbied lawmakers to reconsider moving Nebraska to a winner take all system.
The meeting was attended by a dozen lawmakers but who organized the meeting with the Trump campaign surrogate remains a mystery.
“I cannot speak intelligently about that, sorry,” said Senator Loren Lippincott.
I spoke with Senator Loren Lippincott, the lawmaker behind Nebraska’s Winner Take All bill who has been closely counting his votes this summer to see if he can achieve the 33 needed to overcome a filibuster.
Some of those no votes that Lippincott needs to flip were at the meeting with Graham, but Lippincott doesn’t feel that the visit did much to move the needle on winner take all.
“They were present and, to my knowledge currently, those individuals are still unmoved and still straddling the fence,” said Lippincott.
The visit was quickly followed be a letter of endorsement from Nebraska’s federal delegation to changing to winner take all, but many state lawmakers are still strongly opposed.
“We don’t need Lindsey graham to come in and influence policy in Nebraska,“ said Senator Jen Day.
For Day a move away from a split vote means taking away the voice of voters in CD2.
“It’s anti democratic, it moves us further away from the eventual goal of true representation of the everyday person in government,” said Day.
Representation is Lippincott's goal as well and he wants to make sure Nebraskan's from the smallest communities has a say in who their next president is.
“That ensure that rural voices are heard and that’s important,’ said Senator Loren Lippincott
