May 2, 2024 • 16 mins
Omaha, Nebraska, is billionaire Warren Buffett’s hometown. A quirk in the state’s election law also means it could wind up deciding the 2024 presidential election.
On this episode, Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin talks to Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb and Bloomberg White House reporter Josh Wingrove, who traveled to Nebraska, to understand the fight to secure Omaha’s vote and the possibility of Warren Buffett entering the fray.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This weekend, thousands of out of towners are descending on Omaha,
Nebraska for what some have called the Woodstock for capitalists,
Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting. This year's agenda includes an
invest in Yourself five K fun run, an exclusive shareholder
shopping night with designer brands, and Q and a's with
the man who brought them all together, Berkshire Hathaway CEO
(00:32):
Warren Buffett. In this city of less than half a
million people, Buffett is a notable presence.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
He still lives here.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
You can still see him around town.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
That's Jane Kleeb. She's chair of the Nebraska State Democratic
Party and she's got her eyes on Buffett and his
influence in the twenty twenty four elections. He's donated to
Democratic presidential candidates in the past, but so far this
year he's taken a back seat in a crucial year
for the party.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
He's just not one of those donors like you see
in some of the other states that are kind of
an anchor donor for political work.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
All of this excitement around Omaha, around Nebraska, around Buffett
is coming at a time when Buffett's district could be
a deciding one in the race between Joe Biden and
Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Two hundred and seventy electoral college votes.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
It's hard to think one really mattering all that much,
but it's a very real scenario where this comes down
to a pretty thin election.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Bloomberg White House reporter Josh Wingrove spent time reporting in Nebraska.
He told me that a weird quirk in the electoral
college system has got a lot of eyes on Nebraska's
largest city this year.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
There's a scenario where he's going to need this Omaha
vote if he wants to take president.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Today on the show, we zoom in on Omaha, the
Midwestern city that could have an outsized impact on the
twenty twenty four race. I talked to Jane and Josh
about what Omaha can show us about the trends playing
out across the country, the will he won't he of
Warren Buffett backing at twenty twenty four CAI, and what's
at stake for Biden in winning Omaha's single electoral college vote.
(02:06):
From Bloomberg's Washington Bureau, This is the Big Take DC Podcast.
I'm Salaiah Mosen. America's electoral college system is kind of baffling.
The candidate who gets the most votes overall might still
lose if they don't get the most electoral college votes.
(02:27):
But what's happening in Nebraska shows that it's even weirder
than we thought. It might be possible that a single
electoral college vote from a district that includes Omaha and
several surrounding counties could be the deciding factor that tips
the election for one of the candidates.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Back in the early nineties, Nebraska changed its rules.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Bloomberg White House reporter Josh Wingrove told me that forty
eight states have the same way of divvying up their
electoral college votes.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Winner take all, Right, Joe Biden beats Donald Trump by
one vote in Pennsylvania, Joe Biden gets Pennsylvania's votes, end
of story. In Nebraska, it's different. They give some votes
by congressional district and some votes to the state wide winner,
so it.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Splits up its electoral college votes.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
What that means in practice is that a solidly red
state like Nebraska sometimes ends up giving one single electoral
college vote to a Democrat.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
The battleground is the district around Omaha the second congressional district.
They call it CD two. Biden won it, Trump won
and in sixteen Romney one it. In twelve Obama won
and oh eight. Omaha has been all.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Over the map, but Omaha has not been the deciding
vote in a presidential election before. This year could be different.
Updated census numbers have led to new vote allocations for
states around the country, and that's shifted how much impact
this one district's electoral vote can have in Nebraska, and a.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Lot of the states around it are not swing states
and they're not closed. But Omaha, it's this sort of
little blue island in a sea of red right.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
So it could really make a difference.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
If Biden wins Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, but does poorly in
the Sun Belt in South, if he goes over four
on the battlegrounds down there Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina,
then he gets two hundred and sixty nine electoral college
votes he'd need to win this one vote in Nebraska.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
If Biden ends up with two hundred and sixty nine
electoral college votes in November, the election will be a tie,
and it'll be up to congressional state delegations to decide two.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Sixty nine to two sixty nine would almost surely mean
Trump becomes president.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
But a blue vote in Omaha could get Biden to
two seventy.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Two hundred and seventy electoral college votes.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
It's hard to think one really mattering all that much,
but it's a very real scenario where this comes down
to a pretty thin election.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
And Josh, where is the GOP in all of this?
What is the Republican Party doing to make sure that
Joe Biden doesn't snag this one crucial electoral college vote
in Omaha?
Speaker 1 (04:56):
We've seen Republicans push to change the rules. About a
month ago, Charlie Kirk, this prominent conservative influencer out of nowhere,
really took up a campaign to advocate for a bill
that had stalled, encouraging changing the rules so that this
one district couldn't swing both ways so that the state
wide winner got all five votes and that would almost
(05:17):
surely be Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Here's Kirk on his podcast, The Charlie Kirk Show, firing
up listeners to support the bill.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Nebraska, why have you not fixed this?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
We need a grassroots movement to get this completed. And
it went national so quick. Trump seized onto it, the
Republican signed onto it, and suddenly Nebraska was sitting there thinking,
in a matter of days hours, even are we going
to change the rules or not.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
But that bill was introduced near the end of the
legislative session in.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
April, and it kind of fizzled, but hasn't died entirely.
And what I mean by that is they didn't change
it in time. But right now the question is will
the governor call a special session if he has enough vote.
It doesn't seem like he has enough votes right now,
but if that changes, they could still try to change
this at the eleventh hour, and that would potentially really
(06:09):
change the math overall. And this maneuvering to change the
rules certainly suggests that Republicans aren't overly confident that Trump
can just win this district outright.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
But Trump isn't the only one with problems reaching Omaha voters.
Biden's campaign has reason to worry too, and Democrats on
the ground in Nebraska State Party Chair Jane Kleeb have
their work cut out for them.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
If you look at the different scenarios and what we
all expect is going to be a very razor thin election. Omaha,
or we lovingly call it Joe Maha could be the
difference maker.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
We get into that and how Warren Buffett factors into
all of this after the break.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
The second Congressional District is really a snapshot of America.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Kleeve, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, spends her days
talking to voters trying to understand just what makes them
tick and how the Democratic Party can best reach them.
At the federal level. Omaha is the one place in
the state where her party has a real shot at
influencing presidential elections.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
You have a pretty equal distribution of Republicans and Democrats
and independence. You have suburban, urban, and rural in this district.
I think when people think of Nebraska they think maybe Coorn, football,
and cattle, and we have a lot of that. We're
very proud of all three of those. But we're also
a really growing diverse date. A lot of Latino families
(07:40):
call Nebraska their home.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Biden has struggled with Latino voters and nationwide polls. Jane says,
state Democrats are making outreach a priority.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
The black and Latino community. They will be the difference
maker on whether Biden wins or loses. We do a
lot of community work at the local level with Black
and Latino groups and community members. Access to healthcare is
a big continued issue in our urban centers. There's not
only food deserts, but there's medical deserts as well. In
(08:12):
my community of Hastings, my doctor treats women from fifty
nine counties because of hospitals closing.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Jane is hoping that black and Latino voters will help
the second Congressional District live up to its Joe Maha reputation,
even as polls across the country are showing what political
analysts call the Biden enthusiasm gap.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
You know, I sometimes joke that Nebraska is like one
election cycle behind other states. You know, it's true for trends,
and you know, we got Boba TI only a couple
of years ago and it's old news, and other states
it was just one little, tidy, funny example. So there's
enthusiasm for Joe Biden. There's I think deep connection, like
(08:55):
emotional connection to him. And you know Trump was bad
for ag markets, he was not great for the fortune
five hundred companies in our state. And so I think
you're seeing voters continue to say that they're going to
be with Joe Biden.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Bloomberg reporter Josh Wingrove says there's something to this state.
Republicans are divided about the vision for their party in
a place like Omaha and just how Trump forward their
messaging should lean. Democrats, he says, are more aligned.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Democrats are fired up there.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
What they are trying to do, and what Democrats across
the country are trying to do, is give people reasons
to vote, even if they're on the fence about Joe Biden,
even if they're worried about his age.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
That means getting issues on the ballot they think will
drive people to the polls and to vote Democrat.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
We're focusing a lot on young voters and connecting with
young voters on the issues they care about, for reproductive rights,
legalizes in marijuana, climate change, making sure that our North
and South Omaha voters, those are our Black and Latino
voters and Union voters, that they continue to know not
only the accomplishments of Biden and Harris, but what's at
risk for them and their families in another Trump administration.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Of those key ballot issues, Nebraska Democrats are leaning on abortions, specifically,
they're working to get an initiative enshrining the right to
abortion on the ballot, but Republicans haven't let that happen
so easily.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
There's now a proxy war taking shape over the question
of abortion in Nebraska. You kind of wonder whether we're
going to see this in other states where anti abortion
groups are fighting to get their own measure on the ballot.
And as of now, that initiative has precisely one reported donor,
Pete Ricketts.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Ricketts is a Republican senator, a businessman, and a mega
donor for his own party. With one five hundred thousand
dollars check, he was able to get this abortion initiative
on the ballot. It's proof that money can make a
difference when it comes to reaching voters and to pushing
issues that drive votes. And it's a warning sign to
Nebraska Democrats who aren't able to count on the billionaire
(10:52):
in their backyard, Warren Buffett.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Right now, it's not Democrats who have a rich Benefactorublicans.
Democrats are saying they love Buffett. Everyone seems to love
Buffett in Omaha, but may sort of laugh when you
ask about it and say they wish they could count
on sort of this stream of Buffet money to be
able to campaign on.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
You know, Warren Buffett is an icon, and so anytime
he gets involved, it's a plus for whatever he's getting
involved in. So I do hope that he shows up
on stage with Joe Biden. But I think Warren Buffett
has been clear that for business purposes, it's always smarter
to stay focused on his business, and that's traditionally what
he does.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Buffett taking a back seat can have ripple effects down
the Democratic ballot. Josh spoke to a Democratic candidate, Preston Love,
who's challenging the Republican mega donor Pete Ricketts for his
Senate seat. Love is Nebraska's first major party black senate candidate.
He believes his campaign could bring more black voters to
the polls who might just cast their votes for other
(11:55):
down ballot Democrats and for Biden. But he warned Josh
that won't happened without more money.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
He has not gotten funded by the National Democratic Senate campaign,
and the Buffets people also turned him down, and he's
saying he doesn't have enough cash and that if he
doesn't get more cash, there's a risk that black voter
turnout in north Omaha will be lower and that it'll
hurt both Biden and the House district race.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Reaching Democrats on the ground and getting them to the
polls for down ballot races, that could be an important
strategy for Biden. Overcoming his enthusiasm gap comes down to mobilization.
Involvement of major donors like Buffett isn't everything. Even with
his endorsement, Obama lost Omaha in twenty twelve, and without it,
(12:41):
Biden won Omaha in twenty twenty. But Buffett's support can
still go far back. In twenty sixteen, he got involved
in a big way.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
He gave twenty five grand to a pack affiliated with
Hillary Clinton. But he also did a big event with
Hillary Clinton, like a rally, and.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Spoke that's Buffett chanting at a Clinton rally in Omaha
in the summer of twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And at the time everyone was talking about Trump's taxes.
Buffett seemed pretty disgusted with Trump and dared him, challenged
him to release his taxes.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
I would be delighted to meet him at any place any
time between non election.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I'll bring my tax return. He could bring his tax return.
Of course that didn't happen, but Buffett was really in
the fray.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Ultimately, Clinton won one of the counties in Nebraska's second
congressional district, but it wasn't enough to deliver its electoral
vote In the next election cycle. Buffett did not endure Biden,
though it didn't seem to hurt him, and so far
Buffett has stayed mum on this year's race.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Buffett has kind of been winding down since Trump won
his first election. Part of that is that he has
said that he thinks were simply in too polarized a time,
and he's talked about a concern of backlash that if
he takes a position one way or another, not necessarily
that it would hurt him, but it would hurt Berkshire Hathaway,
it would hurt the shareholders of his company, and even
(14:09):
the employees if they had to lay people off, if
they were the subject of some sort of boycott campaign.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
In a statement to Bloomberg News, Buffett said that either
Biden or Trump could win his district, and the.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Biden campaign is declining comment. They don't want to really
engage in it, and I can see why. I mean,
there's just no indication that Buffett feels the same way.
About Biden as he did about Clinton. What we do
know is two things. Warren Buffett donating is a signal
to people one way or the other. It's also true
(14:43):
that these ballot initiative campaigns generally need money. If Buffett
decided to engage in that, he could have a pretty
big impact.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Buffett is in his nineties. It's possible he's hung up
his political spending cap, but Jane says the party hasn't
given up hope for his involvement and for a possible
electoral college win for Biden and Omaha.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
I know that the Biden team communicates with Buffett and
his folks, and so I'm confident that that will happen.
I certainly think that we will see both Biden and
Harris here in Omaha. The Second Gentleman has come now
several times to campaign here, and I think now we're
(15:25):
anxious about when we will see Biden and Harrison. I
can only imagine that when that happens, you will also
see the Oracle himself foreign Buffetts with them on stage
as well.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Thanks for listening to the Big Take DC podcast from
Bloomberg News. I'm Saliah Mosen. This episode was produced by
Julia Press. It was mixed by Veronica Rodriguez and fact
checked by Thomas Leu. It was edited by Aaron Edwards
and Sarah Halzac. Naomi Shaven is our senior producer. Wendy
Benjaminson and Elizabeth Ponso provide editorial direction. Nicole beemster Bower
(15:59):
is our executive producer. Sage Bauman is Bloomberg's head of podcasts.
Please subscribe and review The Big Take DC wherever you
listen to podcasts. It helps new listeners find the show.
Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This weekend, thousands of out of towners are descending on Omaha,
Nebraska for what some have called the Woodstock for capitalists,
Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting. This year's agenda includes an
invest in Yourself five K fun run, an exclusive shareholder
shopping night with designer brands, and Q and a's with
the man who brought them all together, Berkshire Hathaway CEO
(00:32):
Warren Buffett. In this city of less than half a
million people, Buffett is a notable presence.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
He still lives here.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
You can still see him around town.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
That's Jane Kleeb. She's chair of the Nebraska State Democratic
Party and she's got her eyes on Buffett and his
influence in the twenty twenty four elections. He's donated to
Democratic presidential candidates in the past, but so far this
year he's taken a back seat in a crucial year
for the party.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
He's just not one of those donors like you see
in some of the other states that are kind of
an anchor donor for political work.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
All of this excitement around Omaha, around Nebraska, around Buffett
is coming at a time when Buffett's district could be
a deciding one in the race between Joe Biden and
Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Two hundred and seventy electoral college votes.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
It's hard to think one really mattering all that much,
but it's a very real scenario where this comes down
to a pretty thin election.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Bloomberg White House reporter Josh Wingrove spent time reporting in Nebraska.
He told me that a weird quirk in the electoral
college system has got a lot of eyes on Nebraska's
largest city this year.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
There's a scenario where he's going to need this Omaha
vote if he wants to take president.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Today on the show, we zoom in on Omaha, the
Midwestern city that could have an outsized impact on the
twenty twenty four race. I talked to Jane and Josh
about what Omaha can show us about the trends playing
out across the country, the will he won't he of
Warren Buffett backing at twenty twenty four CAI, and what's
at stake for Biden in winning Omaha's single electoral college vote.
(02:06):
From Bloomberg's Washington Bureau, This is the Big Take DC Podcast.
I'm Salaiah Mosen. America's electoral college system is kind of baffling.
The candidate who gets the most votes overall might still
lose if they don't get the most electoral college votes.
(02:27):
But what's happening in Nebraska shows that it's even weirder
than we thought. It might be possible that a single
electoral college vote from a district that includes Omaha and
several surrounding counties could be the deciding factor that tips
the election for one of the candidates.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Back in the early nineties, Nebraska changed its rules.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Bloomberg White House reporter Josh Wingrove told me that forty
eight states have the same way of divvying up their
electoral college votes.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Winner take all, Right, Joe Biden beats Donald Trump by
one vote in Pennsylvania, Joe Biden gets Pennsylvania's votes, end
of story. In Nebraska, it's different. They give some votes
by congressional district and some votes to the state wide winner,
so it.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Splits up its electoral college votes.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
What that means in practice is that a solidly red
state like Nebraska sometimes ends up giving one single electoral
college vote to a Democrat.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
The battleground is the district around Omaha the second congressional district.
They call it CD two. Biden won it, Trump won
and in sixteen Romney one it. In twelve Obama won
and oh eight. Omaha has been all.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Over the map, but Omaha has not been the deciding
vote in a presidential election before. This year could be different.
Updated census numbers have led to new vote allocations for
states around the country, and that's shifted how much impact
this one district's electoral vote can have in Nebraska, and a.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Lot of the states around it are not swing states
and they're not closed. But Omaha, it's this sort of
little blue island in a sea of red right.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
So it could really make a difference.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
If Biden wins Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, but does poorly in
the Sun Belt in South, if he goes over four
on the battlegrounds down there Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina,
then he gets two hundred and sixty nine electoral college
votes he'd need to win this one vote in Nebraska.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
If Biden ends up with two hundred and sixty nine
electoral college votes in November, the election will be a tie,
and it'll be up to congressional state delegations to decide two.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Sixty nine to two sixty nine would almost surely mean
Trump becomes president.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
But a blue vote in Omaha could get Biden to
two seventy.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Two hundred and seventy electoral college votes.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
It's hard to think one really mattering all that much,
but it's a very real scenario where this comes down
to a pretty thin election.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
And Josh, where is the GOP in all of this?
What is the Republican Party doing to make sure that
Joe Biden doesn't snag this one crucial electoral college vote
in Omaha?
Speaker 1 (04:56):
We've seen Republicans push to change the rules. About a
month ago, Charlie Kirk, this prominent conservative influencer out of nowhere,
really took up a campaign to advocate for a bill
that had stalled, encouraging changing the rules so that this
one district couldn't swing both ways so that the state
wide winner got all five votes and that would almost
(05:17):
surely be Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Here's Kirk on his podcast, The Charlie Kirk Show, firing
up listeners to support the bill.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Nebraska, why have you not fixed this?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
We need a grassroots movement to get this completed. And
it went national so quick. Trump seized onto it, the
Republican signed onto it, and suddenly Nebraska was sitting there thinking,
in a matter of days hours, even are we going
to change the rules or not.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
But that bill was introduced near the end of the
legislative session in.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
April, and it kind of fizzled, but hasn't died entirely.
And what I mean by that is they didn't change
it in time. But right now the question is will
the governor call a special session if he has enough vote.
It doesn't seem like he has enough votes right now,
but if that changes, they could still try to change
this at the eleventh hour, and that would potentially really
(06:09):
change the math overall. And this maneuvering to change the
rules certainly suggests that Republicans aren't overly confident that Trump
can just win this district outright.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
But Trump isn't the only one with problems reaching Omaha voters.
Biden's campaign has reason to worry too, and Democrats on
the ground in Nebraska State Party Chair Jane Kleeb have
their work cut out for them.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
If you look at the different scenarios and what we
all expect is going to be a very razor thin election. Omaha,
or we lovingly call it Joe Maha could be the
difference maker.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
We get into that and how Warren Buffett factors into
all of this after the break.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
The second Congressional District is really a snapshot of America.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Kleeve, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, spends her days
talking to voters trying to understand just what makes them
tick and how the Democratic Party can best reach them.
At the federal level. Omaha is the one place in
the state where her party has a real shot at
influencing presidential elections.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
You have a pretty equal distribution of Republicans and Democrats
and independence. You have suburban, urban, and rural in this district.
I think when people think of Nebraska they think maybe Coorn, football,
and cattle, and we have a lot of that. We're
very proud of all three of those. But we're also
a really growing diverse date. A lot of Latino families
(07:40):
call Nebraska their home.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Biden has struggled with Latino voters and nationwide polls. Jane says,
state Democrats are making outreach a priority.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
The black and Latino community. They will be the difference
maker on whether Biden wins or loses. We do a
lot of community work at the local level with Black
and Latino groups and community members. Access to healthcare is
a big continued issue in our urban centers. There's not
only food deserts, but there's medical deserts as well. In
(08:12):
my community of Hastings, my doctor treats women from fifty
nine counties because of hospitals closing.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Jane is hoping that black and Latino voters will help
the second Congressional District live up to its Joe Maha reputation,
even as polls across the country are showing what political
analysts call the Biden enthusiasm gap.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
You know, I sometimes joke that Nebraska is like one
election cycle behind other states. You know, it's true for trends,
and you know, we got Boba TI only a couple
of years ago and it's old news, and other states
it was just one little, tidy, funny example. So there's
enthusiasm for Joe Biden. There's I think deep connection, like
(08:55):
emotional connection to him. And you know Trump was bad
for ag markets, he was not great for the fortune
five hundred companies in our state. And so I think
you're seeing voters continue to say that they're going to
be with Joe Biden.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Bloomberg reporter Josh Wingrove says there's something to this state.
Republicans are divided about the vision for their party in
a place like Omaha and just how Trump forward their
messaging should lean. Democrats, he says, are more aligned.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Democrats are fired up there.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
What they are trying to do, and what Democrats across
the country are trying to do, is give people reasons
to vote, even if they're on the fence about Joe Biden,
even if they're worried about his age.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
That means getting issues on the ballot they think will
drive people to the polls and to vote Democrat.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
We're focusing a lot on young voters and connecting with
young voters on the issues they care about, for reproductive rights,
legalizes in marijuana, climate change, making sure that our North
and South Omaha voters, those are our Black and Latino
voters and Union voters, that they continue to know not
only the accomplishments of Biden and Harris, but what's at
risk for them and their families in another Trump administration.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Of those key ballot issues, Nebraska Democrats are leaning on abortions, specifically,
they're working to get an initiative enshrining the right to
abortion on the ballot, but Republicans haven't let that happen
so easily.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
There's now a proxy war taking shape over the question
of abortion in Nebraska. You kind of wonder whether we're
going to see this in other states where anti abortion
groups are fighting to get their own measure on the ballot.
And as of now, that initiative has precisely one reported donor,
Pete Ricketts.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Ricketts is a Republican senator, a businessman, and a mega
donor for his own party. With one five hundred thousand
dollars check, he was able to get this abortion initiative
on the ballot. It's proof that money can make a
difference when it comes to reaching voters and to pushing
issues that drive votes. And it's a warning sign to
Nebraska Democrats who aren't able to count on the billionaire
(10:52):
in their backyard, Warren Buffett.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Right now, it's not Democrats who have a rich Benefactorublicans.
Democrats are saying they love Buffett. Everyone seems to love
Buffett in Omaha, but may sort of laugh when you
ask about it and say they wish they could count
on sort of this stream of Buffet money to be
able to campaign on.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
You know, Warren Buffett is an icon, and so anytime
he gets involved, it's a plus for whatever he's getting
involved in. So I do hope that he shows up
on stage with Joe Biden. But I think Warren Buffett
has been clear that for business purposes, it's always smarter
to stay focused on his business, and that's traditionally what
he does.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Buffett taking a back seat can have ripple effects down
the Democratic ballot. Josh spoke to a Democratic candidate, Preston Love,
who's challenging the Republican mega donor Pete Ricketts for his
Senate seat. Love is Nebraska's first major party black senate candidate.
He believes his campaign could bring more black voters to
the polls who might just cast their votes for other
(11:55):
down ballot Democrats and for Biden. But he warned Josh
that won't happened without more money.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
He has not gotten funded by the National Democratic Senate campaign,
and the Buffets people also turned him down, and he's
saying he doesn't have enough cash and that if he
doesn't get more cash, there's a risk that black voter
turnout in north Omaha will be lower and that it'll
hurt both Biden and the House district race.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Reaching Democrats on the ground and getting them to the
polls for down ballot races, that could be an important
strategy for Biden. Overcoming his enthusiasm gap comes down to mobilization.
Involvement of major donors like Buffett isn't everything. Even with
his endorsement, Obama lost Omaha in twenty twelve, and without it,
(12:41):
Biden won Omaha in twenty twenty. But Buffett's support can
still go far back. In twenty sixteen, he got involved
in a big way.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
He gave twenty five grand to a pack affiliated with
Hillary Clinton. But he also did a big event with
Hillary Clinton, like a rally, and.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Spoke that's Buffett chanting at a Clinton rally in Omaha
in the summer of twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And at the time everyone was talking about Trump's taxes.
Buffett seemed pretty disgusted with Trump and dared him, challenged
him to release his taxes.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
I would be delighted to meet him at any place any
time between non election.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I'll bring my tax return. He could bring his tax return.
Of course that didn't happen, but Buffett was really in
the fray.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Ultimately, Clinton won one of the counties in Nebraska's second
congressional district, but it wasn't enough to deliver its electoral
vote In the next election cycle. Buffett did not endure Biden,
though it didn't seem to hurt him, and so far
Buffett has stayed mum on this year's race.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Buffett has kind of been winding down since Trump won
his first election. Part of that is that he has
said that he thinks were simply in too polarized a time,
and he's talked about a concern of backlash that if
he takes a position one way or another, not necessarily
that it would hurt him, but it would hurt Berkshire Hathaway,
it would hurt the shareholders of his company, and even
(14:09):
the employees if they had to lay people off, if
they were the subject of some sort of boycott campaign.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
In a statement to Bloomberg News, Buffett said that either
Biden or Trump could win his district, and the.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Biden campaign is declining comment. They don't want to really
engage in it, and I can see why. I mean,
there's just no indication that Buffett feels the same way.
About Biden as he did about Clinton. What we do
know is two things. Warren Buffett donating is a signal
to people one way or the other. It's also true
(14:43):
that these ballot initiative campaigns generally need money. If Buffett
decided to engage in that, he could have a pretty
big impact.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Buffett is in his nineties. It's possible he's hung up
his political spending cap, but Jane says the party hasn't
given up hope for his involvement and for a possible
electoral college win for Biden and Omaha.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
I know that the Biden team communicates with Buffett and
his folks, and so I'm confident that that will happen.
I certainly think that we will see both Biden and
Harris here in Omaha. The Second Gentleman has come now
several times to campaign here, and I think now we're
(15:25):
anxious about when we will see Biden and Harrison. I
can only imagine that when that happens, you will also
see the Oracle himself foreign Buffetts with them on stage
as well.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Thanks for listening to the Big Take DC podcast from
Bloomberg News. I'm Saliah Mosen. This episode was produced by
Julia Press. It was mixed by Veronica Rodriguez and fact
checked by Thomas Leu. It was edited by Aaron Edwards
and Sarah Halzac. Naomi Shaven is our senior producer. Wendy
Benjaminson and Elizabeth Ponso provide editorial direction. Nicole beemster Bower
(15:59):
is our executive producer. Sage Bauman is Bloomberg's head of podcasts.
Please subscribe and review The Big Take DC wherever you
listen to podcasts. It helps new listeners find the show.
Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week.
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