AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine lawmakers in both political parties are against mimicking an effort in Nebraska endorsed by former President Donald Trump to change that state to a winner-take-all system for presidential elections.
Maine and Nebraska are the only states that split Electoral College votes between the statewide winner and the winner in each of their congressional districts. Maine became the first state to adopt this system under a 1969 law intended to push the country toward a popular vote, while Nebraska followed in 1991 seeking to get more attention from White House candidates.
On Tuesday, hours after conservative activist Charlie Kirk urged Nebraskans to “demand their state stop pointlessly giving strength to their political enemies,” Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen released a statement supporting a bill to change the state to the winner-take-all system in November, when Trump once again faces Biden. Trump praised Pillen’s “very smart letter.”
The pure politics of the proposal are that Nebraska is a Republican state that Trump would likely sweep under such a system. The one electoral vote from an Omaha-area district went to President Joe Biden in 2020. A slightly closer race between Trump and Biden this year could make that one elector important.
The situation is far different in Maine, where Republicans are defending the system that made Trump the first candidate in history to earn a split by taking the 2nd District in both 2016 and 2020. He won one of Maine’s four electors in each race. While Democrats here generally support switching to a national popular vote, they have not pushed changes to the unique regime.
For example, Rep. David Boyer, R-Poland, a member of the Legislature’s election committee, said the current system in Maine and Nebraska is ideal and should be replicated across the rest of the country because it is fairer.
“Doing it in this manner is more equitable and encourages more voters to participate,” he said.
The Republican-led Nebraska Legislature defeated an effort to vote on the bill Wednesday, with the bill’s sponsor indicating he would try again Thursday. Political observers noted Maine Democrats could try to negate any Nebraska switch by also going to a winner-take-all system, though a February poll had Trump leading Biden here.
The Democratic-led Maine Legislature is not currently considering any such change, though lawmakers voted mostly along party lines this week to send Gov. Janet Mills a proposal for Maine to join a national popular vote compact that would nullify the Electoral College once it has states accounting for at least 270 electors. (It still needs 61 more if Maine joins.)
Rep. Laura Supica, D-Bangor, who co-chairs the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee that Boyer also sits on, criticized Kirk’s “political enemies” remark and said she “wouldn’t want to switch our system in a reaction to” any such move in Nebraska.
“To try to set the process up in a way to make people believe that other Americans are political ‘enemies’ by voting is a smack in the face,” Supica said.
Any debates on Maine’s Electoral College system often zero in on the 2nd District. U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, the Democrat who has held the swing seat since 2019 and faces another reelection battle this year, said he thinks “what we do in Maine is fine the way it is now.”
“Questions about how Nebraska chooses its electors are for Nebraskans to answer, not me,” Golden said in a statement. “Likewise, I’m confident Maine will continue to run our elections the way we see fit without regard for what other states’ residents think or do.”
The Republicans competing in the June primary for the chance to take on Golden in November are freshmen state Reps. Austin Theriault of Fort Kent and Mike Soboleski of Phillips. Trump endorsed Theriault last week despite Soboleski arguing he has been a longtime Trump supporter with a more conservative voting record.
Theriault briefly mentioned Nebraska in a statement that said “people are sick of political games in Maine” while citing Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ decision to disqualify Trump from the primary ballot before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned such moves in several states.
“I’m not in Nebraska, but I’m sure people there are sick of political games too,” Theriault said, not elaborating on that statement.
Soboleski said a winner-take-all system in Nebraska “plays well for Republicans.” But in “blue Maine,” he said “it’s risky and could give strength to the Democrats.”
“I like the Maine system as it is for now,” Soboleski said.
