Nebraska and Maine could split their electoral votes. Here’s how it works

By ROBERT YOON The Associated Press

People cast their votes on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 in Pownal, Maine. (AP Photo/Joel Page)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/JOEL PAGE]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Forty-eight states and Washington, D.C., award all their presidential electoral votes to the candidate who wins statewide.

Then there’s Nebraska and Maine.

Both states split their electoral votes between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election using rules that set them apart from the rest of the country.

The two states each award two electoral votes to the winner of the statewide vote, as well as one electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each congressional district. Nebraska has three congressional districts and five total electoral votes, while Maine has two congressional districts and four total electoral votes.

Trump won statewide in Nebraska, as well as in the 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts, picking up four electoral votes. Harris carried the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District and its electoral vote. She is the third Democrat to win an electoral vote from the 2nd District under this system, after Barack Obama in 2008 and President Joe Biden in 2020.

If Harris were to win Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and lose every other battleground state, she would need the electoral vote from Nebraska’s 2nd District to win the presidency.

Earlier this year, some Nebraska Republicans tried to change state law to award all its electoral votes to the statewide winner as the rest of the country does. The effort failed when a key GOP state legislator came out against the plan.

Maine votes reliably Democratic in statewide elections, but Republicans are competitive in the more conservative 2nd Congressional District. Trump won the district and its electoral vote for the third consecutive election, while Harris picked up Maine’s remaining three electoral votes by winning statewide and the 1st Congressional District.

A candidate must win at least 270 out of 538 electoral votes to win the White House.

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Learn more about how and why the AP declares winners in U.S. elections at Explaining Election 2024, a series from The Associated Press aimed at helping make sense of the American democracy. The AP receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.