During a recent interview, the chairman of the Nebraska GOP revealed that the Republican National Committee (RNC) belittled his efforts to adjust state law to help obtain more electoral votes for former President Donald Trump.
Eric Underwood made the remarks in a conversation with Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. The Nebraska Republican leader specifically said that Ronna McDaniel, who was the chair of the RNC at the time, did not consider his proposal to be of serious importance. Underwood reportedly approached her in 2023 to seek help in securing support for the likely GOP presidential nominee.
🚨 SHOCK 🚨
Nebraska GOP Chair just EXPOSED Ronna McDaniel for REFUSING to help flip the states electoral votes for Trump.
He begged the former RNC Chair for help but Ronna told him giving Trump MORE electoral votes was “NOT that important”
Insane clip from Charlie Kirk Show: pic.twitter.com/TBPWvhNZPX
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 3, 2024
The April 3 interview on The Charlie Kirk Show featured Underwood’s testimony that he met with McDaniel last year, telling her that obtaining more of Nebraska’s electoral votes for Trump “is something that is going to happen” but emphasized the need for “outside help.” However, her response told him that this goal “wasn’t much of an importance.”
When Kirk reiterated his comments to clarify if the previous RNC leadership belittled the need for “another electoral vote for Republicans,” Underwood said “it was indicated” that the party leadership was unable to intervene significantly. He added that the most McDaniel would do was to potentially engage with a couple Nebraska elected officials to “see if there’s any interest” in the proposal.
Underwood’s comments about McDaniel come amid backlash she has received due to her very brief stint as a contributor to NBC. Following her resignation as the RNC chair in early March, McDaniel was hired by the mainstream media network—a decision that was met with major backlash from fellow show hosts.
Days after hiring the former RNC chair as a political strategist, the network fired her amid the intense backlash, some of which occurred on air.
Current Nebraska law divides votes from the electoral college via congressional districts, a method which strays from the winner-take-all system that is in place in the other 48 states. This can—and has previously—led to candidates winning electoral votes even when they lose the state when considering the voting results as a whole.
Kirk responded by calling on Nebraska residents to petition their lawmakers to upend the system, joining other states in the winner-take-all approach. He did so by pointing out that it is feasible that Trump loses his expected rematch with Democrat President Joe Biden by one electoral vote from Omaha, Nebraska.
On April 2, Trump was joined by Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) in publicly calling on legislators to pass a bill designed to change the electoral vote system, which was proposed by state Sen. Loren Lippincott (R-NE). The next day, the measure was voted down by a procedural vote of 36-8. Lippincott has said that he plans to make one more attempt to pass the bill before the legislative session ends on April 18.
