Nebraskans head to the polls as Democrats vote in primaries ahead of House and Senate races

Nebraska Democrats are bullish about Republican losses in the right-leaning Plains state – but their prospects depend on today’s Democratic primaries, which include accusations of planted candidates and inadvertently depriving Democrats of power. A crowded Democratic primary in the state’s second congressional district, referred to as its “blue dot”, has focused around concerns that if a state senator wins, the Republican governor will replace him with a Republican who would help overturn Nebraska’s divided electoral college vote system. The district – which includes the state’s largest city, Omaha – is seen as a top contender for a Democratic pickup as the left works to win back the US House of Representatives during a midterm elections cycle expected to be bruising for Republicans. And in the Democratic US Senate primary, the two candidates both face accusations that they are not authentic, as the best hope for a Republican loss in November comes from an independent candidate, whom state Democrats have thrown their support behind. Second congressional district Most US states use a winner-take-all method to award electoral college votes: whoever wins the whole state gets the entirety of its electoral college votes, the process by which the US elects a president. But in Nebraska, each congressional district awards an electoral college vote. …