ELECTORAL COLLEGE
The Mini-Mart at the Center of the Universe
Vortex “winner-take-all” in the battle for the Nebraska Blue Dot
This series chronicles the clash for Nebraska’s ‘Blue Dot’ in the lead-up to the 2024 Presidential Election. Click here to begin the series.
Introducing: The mini-mart vortex
As our democratic republic lurches towards election day on November 5th, the obsession over polling in swing states has only intensified. But from April to September 2024, the most intense focus was on the USA’s only SWING DISTRICT, Nebraska CD-2, aka the “Blue Dot.” Due to the quirks of our antiquated electoral college system, this one district, out of a total of 435, could determine the fate of the entire nation ten days from now.
But it’s more surreal than that. For those six months, the continued existence of the Blue Dot hung in the balance, its fate depending on a lame-duck former firefighter from Omaha’s working-class District Five making $12,000 a year — a Republican no less.
Nebraska politicians mostly fly under the national radar, but the fight for the Blue Dot whipped up a cosmic vortex, with its epicenter at a mini-mart on 45th and L Street in the middle of District Five. As exogenous forces descended on…
