Nebraska Was Minding Its Business Until Charlie Kirk Came Along

The Run-Up

The New York Times

News Commentary, Politics, News

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2024

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Right now, President Biden’s clearest path to re-election in November seems to run through the middle of the country. Here’s what that would look like: Biden wins the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan — plus the other states that usually go blue — and it brings him to 269 electoral votes, just one vote shy of securing the presidency. And that’s where Nebraska comes in. Nebraska is one of just two states that distributes electoral college votes proportionally rather than with a winner-take-all approach. That means that, even though it’s a largely conservative state, Nebraskans sometimes still give one of their five electoral votes to a Democrat, as they did for Biden in 2020. This year, Nebraska and the up-for-grabs nature of that one electoral vote have caught the attention of the right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk, former President Donald Trump and his supporters. In recent weeks, they’ve mobilized and are throwing Nebraska’s unique electoral system into flux. On “The Run-Up” this week: A story about the electoral college, the power of right-wing media and the ongoing fight over who gets a voice in U.S. elections.

Transcript

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0:00.0	So right now, Joe Biden's clearest path to victory in November seems to go through the middle of the country.
0:09.0	Here's what it looks like.
0:11.0	Biden wins Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan,
0:15.4	key battleground states in the Midwest.
0:18.0	And if he does that, and wins the other states that usually go blue.
0:22.3	It brings him to 269 electoral votes. Just one
0:26.4	vote shy of securing the presidency. And that's where Nebraska comes in. Nebraska is one of just two states that distributes electoral votes proportionally,
0:37.0	rather than winner-take-all.
0:39.0	Meaning that, even though it's a red state,
0:42.0	it sometimes still gives one of its five electoral
0:44.5	votes to a Democrat as it did for Biden in 2020. But the fact that this year
0:51.2	that one electoral vote,
0:53.4	could be the one that puts Biden over the top,
0:56.4	has caught the attention of Donald Trump and some supporters.
1:00.0	And in recent weeks, they mobilize, throwing Nebraska's unique electoral system into flux.
1:07.0	Today, a story about the Electoral College, the power of right-wing media, and the fight over who gets a voice in our
1:15.9	elections. From the New York Times, I'm a Stad Herndon. this is the run-up.
1:24.0	So,
1:25.0	Let's take a second to reset.
1:30.0	So, this current fight. Let's take a second to reset.
1:37.6	So this current fight started a little over a year ago, when without any fanfare, at least as far as I can tell,
1:41.4	a bill was introduced in the Nebraska State Legislature.
	...

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