Ronna McDaniel Refused To Help Nebraska Implement Winner-Take-All System

Nebraska Republican Party Chairman Eric Underwood claimed on Wednesday that he had previously attempted to get support from disgraced former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to help Nebraska become a winner-take-all electoral system, but she refused.

Nebraska — a reliably red state with a voter distribution of 47% Republican, 36% Democrat and 17% independent, according to Pew Research — is one of only two states in the U.S. that allocates electoral votes based on congressional district. This means that Nebraska’s left-leaning capital city, Omaha, is given its own electoral vote. Unlike the other 48 states that are winner-take-all, Nebraska allows the Democrat candidate for president to receive one electoral vote from the state, meaning that former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden were able to rely on Omaha to aid in their victories.

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk pointed to this in a tweet on Wednesday, where he warned that there is a hypothetical scenario where former president and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump loses in November by exactly one electoral vote, thanks to Nebraska.

Kirk then urged Nebraska residents to call their lawmakers and “demand their state stop pointlessly giving strength to their political enemies.”

However, it was also revealed on Wednesday that the Nebraska GOP had been trying to make these changes in the past — but their efforts were stymied by the RNC.

McDaniel, who was finally ousted from her position as RNC chairwoman earlier this year amid outcry from conservative voters who condemned her repeated failures, reportedly claimed that this issue was not important.

In an interview with Kirk, Underwood explained how the former RNC chairwoman had essentially told him that the push to help Trump secure more electoral college votes didn’t matter to her.

“I even went to the RNC last year, Charlie,” the Nebraska GOP chair explained. “I had a meeting with Ronna McDaniel and said, ‘I think this is something that is going to happen … but I need outside help,’ and I was basically told that it wasn’t much of an importance.”

“Under the prior RNC leadership, they said that another electoral vote for Republicans wasn’t a big deal?” Kirk asked.

“It was indicated that they couldn’t do much from their level and they really couldn’t support me more than, just, she might talk with one or two elected officials here and see if there’s any interest in it,” Underwood replied.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers in Nebraska are now finally trying to get this issue fixed thanks to Kirk’s advocacy. On Wednesday night, Nebraska state Sen. Julie Slama (R) tried to push through a procedural motion that would call for a vote on the issue immediately, but it failed with a vote of 8-36. Many conservatives were shocked by this decision, pointing out that Republicans tend to refuse to help themselves — with some calling the GOP “spineless” and “useless,” pointing out that Democrats would not hesitate to fix the problem if it would benefit them.

While Slama believes that her effort was the last chance to fix the problem, Kirk had other ideas — explaining during an appearance on Benny Johnson’s podcast that Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) could call a special session to push through state Sen. Loren Lippincott’s (R) bill that would move Nebraska to a winner-take-all system.

Pillen has already begun advocating for the change in response to Kirk’s call to action.