OMAHA — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will declare his roots as a Big Red candidate on Saturday. He has planned a visit to Omaha, the Examiner has learned, two weeks after Vice President Kamala Harris nominated him as her running mate.
The Harris team is expected to announce its stop in Nebraska’s swing 2nd congressional district as early as Wednesday, where candidates from both major parties won stray Electoral College votes twice in the last election.
Details about the time and location of the visit have not yet been announced, but a text message to Democratic supporters and candidates in the state on Tuesday said they were preparing for “a rally with a special guest from the Harris Walz campaign team” on Saturday afternoon.
Multiple sources with knowledge of the event have said in recent days that Walz – a Nebraskan native – is the guest. Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb would not confirm the Examiner’s reporting on the arrival, but confirmed that someone is coming.
“We are pleased to welcome a special guest from the Harris Walz campaign,” she said.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has roots in rural Nebraska
Kleeb celebrated Walz’s selection as Harris’s vice presidential running mate because of his ties to rural Nebraska, his ability to make progressive politics more accessible and the importance of bringing a Midwestern voice to the race.
Walz was born in West Point, Nebraska, grew up in Valentine, graduated from high school in Butte and earned his bachelor’s degree from Chadron State College before moving to Minnesota, his wife’s home state.
He and his wife, Gwen, taught in Alliance, Nebraska, where he also coached football and basketball teams and served in the Nebraska National Guard.
The visit comes days after the Nebraska Republican Party and the national GOP celebrated the opening of a joint campaign office for former President Donald Trump in Omaha on Saturday.
Both campaigns are targeting Nebraska because the state awards the winner of each congressional district one vote in the Electoral College in addition to its two votes for the statewide winner. The politically competitive 2nd District becomes more important in close elections.
In all other states except Maine, electoral votes are awarded on a winner-take-all basis. This long-term goal of the Republicans in Nebraska has been reinforced by the increasingly close poll results in the race between Harris and Trump.
In the run-up to the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago, Harris and Trump are engaged in a new presidential campaign. The Democrats are motivated and the Republicans are regrouping.
The campaign team’s visit comes at a time when Trump’s team is working with Republicans in the officially bipartisan legislature to garner votes for a change in Nebraska’s method of awarding electoral votes.
Maine lawmakers have said they are willing to introduce a winner-take-all principle in their Democratic-leaning state if Nebraska takes similar action.
In Nebraska, there is an effort to push the amendment through a possible special session, which would be called late enough to avoid a petition drive to stop the amendment, and late enough to complicate Maine’s efforts to stop the amendment.
Nebraska’s 2nd District returns to the presidential election spotlight after a crazy month
The most frequently discussed date is September, after the conclusion of the special session called by Governor Jim Pillen to address property tax relief. At last count, Republicans lacked the votes for the winner-take-all principle, which Pillen acknowledged on Monday.
Supporters of the change argue that Nebraska should not split its votes when most other states do not. They also do not like to see the red state of Nebraska give a vote to a Democrat.
Democrats say Republicans are afraid of losing. Former President Barack Obama won the 2nd District in 2008 and President Joe Biden won in 2020.
However, Trump won the district in 2016 and Republican Mitt Romney in 2012.
The district has received attention in the past as part of presidential campaigns. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff has visited Nebraska twice this year. In 2020, Trump and his son Donald Jr., as well as other surrogates, visited the Omaha area.
Given the high stakes, it is unlikely that the weekend’s visit was the last by representatives from both sides, political observers say, and several Republican advisers said they also expect a visit by Trump and his surrogates, possibly during the winner-takes-all effort.
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