State Sen. Mike McDonnell’s slow march toward the Nebraska Republican Party reached its destination Wednesday after years as a firefighter, union leader and sometimes kingmaker in Democratic politics.
McDonnell, a 40-year Democrat, said that he had asked fellow Democrats to respect his “religious-based, pro-life position” and that they had instead sought in recent months to punish him. The county party withdrew its support of him and the state party’s leading committee censured him.
McDonnell’s switch, confirmed by Douglas County election officials, gives the GOP 33 members in a one-house Legislature. That’s a significant number in a 49-member body with rules that require 33 votes to overcome a filibuster. Democrats would then hold 15 seats, plus a progressive who is a registered nonpartisan.
The Legislature is officially nonpartisan and often splits along different fault lines than political party. On controversial votes, however, senators tend to vote more often along party lines.
The timing of McDonnell’s switch could matter. Gov. Jim Pillen on Tuesday joined former President Donald Trump and his supporters in calling for Nebraska to award all its presidential electoral votes to the statewide winner of the popular vote.
Currently, Nebraska and Maine award a single Electoral College vote to the winners of the presidential popular vote in each of the state’s congressional districts. Trump won four of Nebraska’s five votes in 2020. Biden won one vote, in the Omaha-based 2nd District.
McDonnell was asked whether he would support cloture, a procedure to end debate, on any bill that contains language that would switch Nebraska to a winner-take-all approach in presidential elections, including if it gets folded into legislation he supports.
“No, next question,” he said.
