The Trump-ally plan to cut Omaha off for Biden is dead … for now

Republicans are giving up for now on a plan to change Nebraska state law to benefit Donald Trump's campaign, with a top state lawmaker ruling out immediate efforts to meddle with Electoral College math ahead of the general election.

John Arch, the Republican speaker of the state legislature, on Friday said that due to the limited number of days left in the session, bills could no longer be added to legislation currently on the floor.

Lisa Johns, an adviser to Arch, later told POLITICO in an email that the speaker “encouraged his colleagues to show some restraint in adding bills to other bills,” noting that the lengthy process could jeopardize “bills the members of the Legislature designated as priorities for the session months ago.”

But Arch’s earlier remarks — and the plea for restraint — appeared to shut down one of the few remaining avenues for Trump allies to pass a bill that would impose a winner-takes-all system for how Nebraska allocates its Electoral College votes.

And it left conservatives pushing for the governor to immediately call for a special legislative session to revive the bill’s consideration — a push that was shared by Donald Trump’s son, Don Jr.

Earlier this week, Gov. Jim Pillen expressed support for the bill, which would do away with the state’s system of splitting their Electoral College votes. Currently, the statewide popular vote winner gets two, and the popular vote winner in each congressional district gets an additional one.

This change would be a clear boost for Trump, depriving President Joe Biden of an electoral vote from Nebraska’s 2nd District, the Omaha-based swing district, which he would need to retain the White House if he only prevailed in the three Midwest battleground states and none of the others.

Trump allies, aware of this scenario, have pushed frantically for Nebraska to change its laws. Renewed attention to the bill came about after conservative talk show host Charlie Kirk sparked a viral online pressure campaign in favor of the swap, a rallying cry Trump quickly picked up on personally.

But the push ran into timing constraints and, for now, enough political opposition to keep it stalled. The winner-takes-all legislation is currently in committee, and does not have the “priority” status needed to be taken up by the full legislature. On Wednesday, there was last-minute maneuvering to get it through. Republican state Sen. Julie Slama brought the winner-takes-all legislation as an amendment to a bill that was already before the full floor. But the vote for that amendment was ultimately unsuccessful because an overwhelming majority of the senators said that it was not relevant to the attached bill.

After that failed vote, Republican Sen. Loren Lippincott, the sponsor of the winner-takes-all bill, told the Nebraska Examiner’s Aaron Sanderford that he would attempt to attach it to another bill that is on the floor. But Lippincott also suggested that the legislation does not currently have enough votes to get through, as some senators would prefer to wait until after 2024.

Pillen’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lippincott had no comment.

There are four days left in the session after today: three next week, and the last one on April 18.