- Election 2024
Democrats’ event follows weekend opening of a joint Trump/RNC campaign office in Omaha
OMAHA — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will be flexing his Big Red roots on Saturday. He has scheduled a visit to Omaha two weeks after Vice President Kamala Harris picked him as her running mate, the Examiner has learned.
The Harris campaign is poised as early as Wednesday to announce the stop in Nebraska’s swing 2nd Congressional District, where candidates from both major political parties have won its stray Electoral College vote twice in recent elections.
Details on the time and venue for the visit have not been released, but a text to Democratic supporters and candidates in the state on Tuesday said to be ready for “a rally with a special guest from the Harris Walz campaign” on Saturday afternoon.
Multiple sources with knowledge of the event have said in recent days that Walz — a Nebraska native — is the guest. The Harris campaign confirmed the Examiner’s reporting on Wednesday, announcing the rally.
“We are excited to welcome hometown hero Tim Walz into our blue dot that we lovingly call #Kamaha now!” Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jane Kleeb said Wednesday in a statement. “Walz is bringing joy back to politics and a message of caring for our neighbors, just like he was raised in our small rural towns.”
Vance to visit Nebraska for a fundraiser
Kleeb has celebrated Walz being named Harris’ running mate because of his ties to rural Nebraska, his ability to make progressive policies more approachable and the importance of adding a Midwestern voice to the ticket.
Walz was born in West Point, Nebraska, grew up in Valentine, graduated from high school in Butte and earned his bachelor’s degree at Chadron State College before moving to Minnesota, his wife’s home state.
He and his wife, Gwen, taught in Alliance, Nebraska, where he also helped coach football and basketball teams and served in the Nebraska National Guard.
The visit will come days after the Nebraska Republican Party and the national GOP celebrated opening a joint campaign office in Omaha on Saturday for former President Donald Trump.
Both campaigns are targeting Nebraska because the state 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.
Every other state except Maine awards electoral votes in a winner-take-all fashion, a long-term goal of Nebraska Republicans that has been amplified as polling tightens in the Harris-Trump race.
Harris and Trump are engaged in a remade presidential race in the run-up to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, with Democrats energized and Republicans retooling.
The visit from the campaign comes as Trump’s team works with Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Legislature to find the votes to change Nebraska’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, as well, if Nebraska acts to do so.
Efforts are being made in Nebraska to pursue the change in a potential special session called late enough to avoid a petition drive to stop it and late enough to complicate Maine’s efforts to match.
Nebraska’s 2nd District steps back into presidential spotlight after crazy month
The most frequently discussed timing is September, after the conclusion of Gov. Jim Pillen’s special session called to address property tax relief. As of last count, Republicans lacked the votes for winner-take-all, which Pillen acknowledged Monday.
Supporters of the change argue Nebraska should not split its votes while most other states don’t. They also dislike seeing red-state Nebraska give up any vote to a Democrat.
Democrats say Republicans are scared 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 won it in 2012.
The district has attracted attention from the presidential campaigns before now. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff has visited Nebraska twice this year. In 2020, Trump and his son Donald Jr. and other surrogates visited the Omaha area.
Given the stakes, the weekend visit is unlikely to be the last by representatives of either ticket, political observers said, and several GOP consultants said they also expect Trump and his surrogates to visit, perhaps during the push for winner-take-all.
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