Aaron Sanderford
OMAHA — Nebraska’s swinging 2nd Congressional District will host both 2024 vice presidential candidates in coming days, the latest sign of how significant the campaigns consider the stray Electoral College vote.
Republican U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, former President Donald Trump’s running mate, plans to visit Omaha on Aug. 21 for a minimum $1,000-a-plate fundraiser headlined by the GOP governors and U.S. senators from Nebraska and Iowa and Nebraska’s U.S. House members, the Examiner has learned.
Among the hosts are longtime political donors Joe and Marlene Ricketts, U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts and his brother Todd, who was a top Republican National Committee fundraiser for former President Donald Trump’s RNC in 2020.
The Ricketts family, which built the company that became TD Ameritrade, owns the Chicago Cubs. The Ricketts campaign could not immediately be reached for comment late Tuesday.
The top package costs $100,000 per couple, including a table, photo and reception. It was not immediately clear whether Vance has planned a separate public event. The Trump campaign did not not immediately return messages Tuesday evening seeking comment.
Word of Vance’s visit came hot on the heels of a report that Democratic vice presidential pick Tim Walz plans to visit Omaha on Saturday.
Vance’s visit was confirmed in an email from Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley to local GOP donors.
“The GOP is the party of working Americans, and Senator Vance has long championed the rural men and women left behind in Joe Biden’s America,” the email said. “His experience, on top of President Trump’s accomplishments for rural communities … will show Americans in the Heartland that they have a home in President Trump’s movement to Make America Great Again.”
The Vance visit was confirmed by the Nebraska Republican Party and donors.
Vance excites base
Populist Republicans in Nebraska have celebrated Trump’s pick of Vance as someone who excites his base. Some of their energy has been muted by concerns he previously opposed Trump and that he was picked to help beat President Joe Biden, not the current Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Ohio senator is known for his book about his Appalachian roots, “Hillbilly Elegy.” Vance has embraced Trump’s message of economic populism, nationalism and isolationism abroad. For example, Vance has opposed military aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.
The presidential campaigns are once again focused on the Omaha area because Nebraska awards one Electoral College vote to the winner of each congressional district, in addition to its two votes for the statewide winner.
The politically competitive 2nd District becomes more significant in close elections. And recent polling nationally and in swing states, including Nebraska, shows a race that either side can win. Recent momentum has swung toward Harris.
National political pundits have put the spotlight back on the 2nd District by touting the possibility that the Electoral College vote could end up in a 269-269 tie.
Every other state except Maine awards electoral votes in a winner-take-all fashion, a long-term goal of Nebraska Republicans that might not be dead yet this year.
The district has swung in both directions in the past four presidential elections, won by former Democratic President Barack Obama in 2008, Republican Mitt Romney in 2012, Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020.
Focus on 2nd District
The August visits come as Trump’s team works with Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature to find the votes to change the state’s method of awarding electoral votes.
Legislative leaders in Maine have said they are prepared to shift their Democratic-leaning state to winner-take-all, Republican-led Nebraska acts to change to winner-take all.
Both campaigns have staff in the 2nd District, and both also have surrogates visiting and raising funds.
Joe Hagerty, who helped open a joint RNC and Trump campaign office last weekend in Nebraska, has said Republicans need to remind state lawmakers to do the right thing.
“We want President Trump to get elected, and so we don’t want that one electoral vote that we’re responsible for to be the difference in him not winning,” Hagerty said.
Democrats, including Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jane Kleeb, have said Republicans want to change the rules in the middle of the game because they worry they might lose the November election.