Why is Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst stumping for Trump in Nebraska?

OMAHA — Iowa U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst crossed the Missouri River on Saturday to encourage more than 100 Republican volunteers in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District to spend the next few weeks knocking on voters’ doors for former President Donald Trump.

Ernst, in remarks to a red-clad west Omaha crowd and during an interview with the Examiner, said voters in the district — which encompasses Douglas, Saunders and parts of Sarpy County — could hold an outsized sway on the outcome of Trump’s race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the American Federation of Teachers’ 88th National Convention on July 25, 2024, in Houston. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)

“I live across the river over in Iowa, so it’s just really important to go to surrounding areas and drive out the vote for (former) President Trump,” Ernst said. “You know Nebraskans support Donald Trump, but this is a swing area.”

Trump said something similar about the importance of the 2nd District during a telephone town hall for Ernst’s GOP colleague, U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., on Friday evening. But his campaign is being outspent here on ads about 20 to 1.

“We want to win it,” Trump said on the call to help Fischer, whom he has endorsed. “It could be a very important point.”

Stray electoral vote

The point in question is the opportunity to compete in Nebraska for a stray Electoral College vote in the Omaha area. Trump and his campaign tried but failed to get state lawmakers to change to a winner-take-all process in a Republican-heavy state he is likely to win easily.

The Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks at the Detroit Economic Club on Oct. 10, 2024, in Detroit. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

The Harris campaign is also leaning on neighbors for help: Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, visiting Omaha on Monday, will highlight Harris’ support for expanding the federal child tax credit and broadening Medicare to cover more in-home care for the elderly.

Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said Harris voters of all political persuasions don’t need Trump surrogates “coming to town” to campaign on his “extreme and dangerous” agenda. She said people in the 2nd District know better than to support him.

“In Omaha, voters care about freedom — that’s why Republicans, Democrats and Independents … are coming together in a cross-partisan coalition to turn the page on Trump and elect Vice President Harris,” Kleeb said in a statement from the Harris campaign.

Higher hill for Trump in NE-02

Trump’s campaign faces a much higher hill in the Omaha-based 2nd District, which has split twice in the past four presidential races between Democrats and Republicans, including going for former President Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2016.

Support for former President Donald Trump created a sign of his avatar with hair eating the Democrats’ blue dot in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

Ernst told eastern Nebraska GOP volunteers and staff that they were the front line in a fight for the future of the country and that people needed to remember that their frustrations with Biden’s term should transfer to Harris.

The senator’s stump speech, like those of most Trump surrogates in swing districts, touched on inflation and immigration. Ernst, a combat veteran, also highlighted problems she had with Biden-Harris on national security, particularly the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“I am here because I want to talk to you about how America was better under President Trump and how Kamala Harris has failed your communities,” Ernst said. “So knock on those doors, speak to those people. Tell them what a better place it will be.”

Door knocking happening now

Two volunteers who were headed out to knock on doors for Trump, Phil and Laura Torrison of Omaha, said they use a mobile software program to identify the homes of low-likelihood voters who might support Trump.

Phil and Laura Torrison of Omaha speak with a campaign staffer for former President Donald Trump in Omaha. The two are knocking on doors for him. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

If residents seem open to supporting Trump, the Torrisons stress the importance of voting and encourage them to vote early, either by mail or in person, to bank the vote of someone who might otherwise have skipped voting.

“They are 100 percent pro-us knocking on their doors,” Phil Torrison said. “They thank us for being out here.”

Democrats typically use early voting more often to bank votes. Trump’s new campaign team this year has re-emphasized the importance of getting votes in early, in contrast to 2020, when Trump attacked early voting.

The pro-Trump couple said they knock on doors most of the day on Saturdays and on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. They said they reach up to 60 homes on a weekend day.

Harris supportershave been knocking doors for months as well. They say they have contacted more than 5,000 voters and added more than 150 campaign volunteers this week.

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