evidence: Trump benefitted from the system in Maine, a blue state, where he won a single electoral college vote in 2016 and 2020 despite losing statewide. Democrats are less optimistic about a Maine sweep, party officials say, than winning one of Nebraska’s electoral votes. [...] Republican Rep. Don Bacon has thrived – and survived politically for nearly a decade – because of that independent streak of the district and increasingly rare ticket-splitters. Trump won here in 2016, but lost in 2020. [...] While Trump is expected to carry the statewide vote in Nebraska by a wide margin – he won about 58% in 2016 and 2020 – it’s an open question how much he intends to compete in the competitive 2nd District. Trump signs dot the roadside, but his campaign and allies have spent only a few thousand dollars in advertising here.