Democrats are emphasizing winning one specific district in Nebraska this November over campaigning in other states as the blue wall in upper midwest states starts losing electoral power.
The Democratic super PAC Future Forward USA recently reserved about $130 million in advertising from late August through Election Day, including $3.7 million in Nebraska’s 2nd District. The super PAC had only spent $698,775 in the same district in 2020.
The decision comes as Democrats have less of a sure thing in crucial swing states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin due to population changes.
“The industrial north strategy — the old blue wall that held even for Al Gore and John Kerry when they lost — you now need Nebraska-2 to make that math work,” Kyle Kondik, an election handicapper at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, told the Washington Post. “The importance is that it may be that [President Joe] Biden’s best path back to a second term is to essentially hold the Upper Midwest and win Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.”
The district, which is worth a single Electoral College vote because Nebraska is not a winner-take-all state, includes Omaha. Biden won it in 2020, joining Barack Obama, who prevailed there in 2008, as the only other Democrat to do so since 1991.
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“At this stage in the race, we’re being strategic about keeping multiple pathways to 270 electoral votes,” Biden campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said in a statement. “Since the President was elected in 2020, we’ve made significant and ongoing investments in state parties and on-the-ground infrastructure.”
Biden’s campaign is also focused on garnering support in states such as Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, and Arizona, where winning the Hispanic and black votes are crucial. However, long-shot presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent, has been gaining support among southern black voters, including those in Georgia.