Nebraskans could be unwilling kingmakers in the US election

The race is so close between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump that the single electoral college vote from Nebraska ’s swing city of Omaha could end up deciding the winner.

Nebraska is one of only two states, along with Maine , to award its electoral college votes in part by congressional districts, rather than winner-takes-all.

Trump campaign last month tried an alternative route to secure NE-02 , with a controversial attempt to change the rules.

Lindsey Graham , the South Carolina senator and a leading Trump loyalist, was dispatched to Omaha to persuade state Republicans to vote through a new law that would see all five of Nebraska ’s electoral college votes go to the state-wide winner.

It failed when one Republican state senator, Mike McDonnell , held out — despite personal lobbying from the former president himself over the phone.

David Wasserman , senior editor and elections analyst for the Cook Political Report newsletter, is even more pessimistic and predicts civil disorder. “In today ’s era of disinformation and AI , and the belief that the other side is not only ill-intentioned but evil, we might not be able to withstand the pressures that a very close election poses,” he said. ”It would come down to the courts’ ability to enforce their will and our political leaders’ ability to pull us back from the social unrest that would be virtually guaranteed.”.