Lindsey Graham's Lobbying Impact on Electoral College Dynamics

Lindsey Graham's Influence on Electoral College

LINCOLNVILLE, Maine — As Republicans in Nebraska consider changing state law to give Donald Trump an extra Electoral College vote this fall, their Democratic counterparts in Maine have little recourse to even the score. The only two states that award Electoral College votes by congressional district, Republican-leaning Nebraska and Democratic-leaning Maine, play unusual roles in presidential politics because their systems allow each party a chance to pick off one electoral vote in a state where they would get nothing under the typical winner-take-all system.

Nebraska Republicans have tried and failed to change the state's rules for years, sometimes citing how the system gives Nebraska more relevance on the national political stage, as well as concerns that Maine Democrats would cancel their work out by shifting to winner-take-all, too. They’ve fallen short despite a recent push from Trump and other national Republicans this spring.

In 2020, Trump won one electoral vote from Maine’s rural 2nd Congressional District and is heavily favored to do so again, while Joe Biden won one from Nebraska’s Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District. However, Republicans' latest push for a winner-take-all system in Nebraska, with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., lobbying state lawmakers on Trump’s behalf, comes after a key deadline in Maine that will make it nearly impossible for the blue state to counter any move by the red one.

It takes 90 days for legislation to go into effect in Maine after it is enacted, and Thursday marked 89 days until the Electoral College is scheduled to meet on Dec. 17, meaning it’s already too late for the Maine Legislature to change to a winner-take-all system under normal rules.