Maine may once again stand alone in awarding electoral votes by congressional district if a sudden Republican push to change the law in Nebraska succeeds.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, issued a statement Tuesday urging state lawmakers to reinstate the winner-take-all system for handing out his state’s electoral votes in presidential elections that Nebraska changed in 1991.

Maine allocated two of its four electoral votes by congressional district beginning in 1972.

Returning to the old system, Pillen said, “would bring Nebraska into line with 48 of our fellow states, better reflect the founders’ intent and ensure our state speaks with one unified voice in presidential elections.

Doing so in Nebraska would eliminate the opportunity for President Joe Biden to pick up an electoral vote by again winning a congressional district in Democratic-leaning Omaha. The state is otherwise almost certain to vote Republican.

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump soon endorsed Pillen’s bid to change the law in a post on Truth Social that called Pillen’s statement “very smart.”

“Most Nebraskans have wanted to go back to this system for a very long time, because it’s what 48 other States do,” Trump wrote. “It’s what the Founders intended, and it’s right for Nebraska.”

There are election scenarios that would tip the race to Trump, or Biden, depending on whether they secure an electoral vote in Maine or Nebraska, the two states that don’t give all their electoral votes to the statewide winner.

Nebraska Democrats vow to block the proposal.

On social media, they called “this latest attempt to dilute our state’s influence nationwide” unacceptable. “They can’t stand that a Blue Dot exists in the state. We will continue to protect it.”

There hasn’t been any serious move to return to winner-take-all in Maine, where Trump won an electoral vote in 2016 and 2020 by coming out on top in the 2nd Congressional District. Those are the only elections where voters in Maine’s two districts backed different presidential candidates.

In both 2016 and 2020, Democrats won the 1st District and got Maine’s two other electoral votes by winning the statewide presidential race in each of the two races.

Maine, though, might change its system of allocating electors.

A measure to have Maine join a group of states hoping to choose U.S. presidents based on the national popular vote passed the state House and Senate this week. It likely has support in the state Senate, but it is unclear whether Gov. Janet Mills will sign it.

If it does become law, Maine’s four electoral voters would go to whichever presidential candidate wins the national popular vote, regardless of who wins in Maine or either of its two congressional districts.

Nebraska’s legislative session ends in two weeks so lawmakers who want to revise its electoral system have little time to act.

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