Maine Democrat threatens moving to winner-take-all elections if Nebraska does in 2024

A top Maine Democrat on Friday said her state party would try to give President Joe Biden an electoral college bump this November, if Nebraska Republicans make their state a "winner-take-all." 

Nebraska GOP Gov. Jim Pillen has endorsed calling a special session to try and make Nebraska a "winner-take-all" state, instead of dividing up its electoral college vote by district. If Nebraska Republicans do make the change then it would likely benefit former President Donald Trump and potentially rob Biden of one electoral college vote that he won in 2020.

Maine House Majority Leader Maureen Terry threatened to counteract the possible advantage by claiming that if the Nebraska state legislature makes it easier for Trump to win the state then Maine Democrats would try to do the same for Biden. Maine also divides its electoral college votes by district, and Trump won one point in 2020.

“Voters in Maine and voters in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District value their independence, but they also value fairness and playing by the rules,” Terry said, per Politico. “If Nebraska’s Republican governor and Republican-controlled Legislature were to change their electoral system this late in the cycle in order to unfairly award Donald Trump an additional electoral vote, I think the Maine Legislature would be compelled to act in order to restore fairness to our country’s electoral system.”

Terry added that she hopes neither state tries to change the electoral process for the November election. But Maine has already joined a national movement to elect the president by popular vote in future elections if the effort reaches the 270 electoral college votes it requires to pass. The states that have signed the agreement already control 209 electoral college votes.

If Maine Democrats do attempt to change their state's electoral college process for November then it would need to be done through a special session because the state legislature has already gone on break. Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, would need to call for the special session, but has not weighed in on the topic.