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Donald Trump thinks he will win four electoral votes from Nebraska, but he is increasingly worried about the fifth. This has led the former president and his Republican allies to launch a last-ditch effort to change the state’s election law just weeks before votes are cast.

Trump briefly called Nebraska Republican lawmakers this week as they met with Republican Gov. Jim Pillen to discuss the feasibility of repealing a 30-year law that awards electoral votes by congressional district rather than a statewide winner-takes-all system.

Previous attempts to change the law have failed — this year and in years past — but Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina flew to Nebraska on Wednesday to meet with lawmakers in hopes of making Trump’s case. The former president briefly called the meeting, a GOP official told CNN, hoping to drum up support and impress upon them the importance of a single electoral vote.

It’s another sign of how close the election could be for Vice President Kamala Harris, with a single elector from a congressional district near Omaha potentially crucial. Even if Harris were to win the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania but not other key battlegrounds, she would still need the so-called blue dot of Nebraska’s 2nd District to reach 270 electoral votes and win the White House.

“I hope the people of Nebraska understand that this could come down to one electoral vote, and I just don’t think a Harris presidency is good for Nebraska,” Graham said. “I don’t think it’s good for America’s foreign policy interests.”

Trump won all five of Nebraska’s electoral votes in 2016, but won four in 2020, with Joe Biden carrying the Omaha-area district. Harris’ campaign is spending millions to try to win back that one electoral vote, with a grassroots effort that’s taking place in front yards across Omaha with blue-polka-dot yard signs, a symbol of hope for Democrats in a sea of ​​red in Nebraska.

During Wednesday’s call, the GOP official told CNN that Trump was neither threatening nor overly persuasive in his brief remarks. His campaign has spent virtually no money trying to compete in the state, a point of contention for some Republicans who believe he should be trying as hard as Harris to win votes rather than fighting to change the law.

Trump’s call was first reported by The Washington Post.

Pillen has said he is still willing to call a special session of the Nebraska Legislature before the November elections to change the law, but he would do so only if there was enough support. An attempt earlier this year to change the law, which is unique to only Nebraska and Maine, failed.

“At this point, I have not received the concrete and public indication that 33 senators would vote for WTA,” Pillen said in a statement last week, referring to the winner-take-all legislation. “If that changes, I will enthusiastically call a special session.”

A handful of people remain, including Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha, who changed his party registration from Democratic to Republican earlier this year but has so far resisted calls to support a winner-take-all election system.

His spokesman, Barry Rubin, told the Nebraska Examiner on Thursday: “Senator McDonnell has heard compelling arguments from both sides. And to this day, (he) is still a no.”

Democrats have vowed to try to block any last-minute attempts to change the law before the November elections.

“We’re very vigilant and watching to see if it does or doesn’t happen,” said Tony Vargas, a state senator challenging GOP Rep. Don Bacon in the 2nd District, one of the most competitive seats in the country. “It could theoretically change right up until Election Day.”

Bacon and the four other members of the state’s federal delegation, all Republicans, renewed their call this week to change Nebraska’s law. In a letter, they wrote, “It is high time for Nebraska to join 48 other states in embracing the ‘winner-takes-all’ principle in presidential elections.”

The Harris campaign and Nebraska Democratic officials are closely watching for any last-minute efforts to change the election law. When the issue came up for a vote during the Legislature’s regular session earlier this year, the measure fell 17 votes short of passage.

Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said those 17 votes are “very solid.”

“Both Trump and Harris have the opportunity to compete for the votes of Nebraskans,” Kleeb told CNN. “Democrats take our responsibilities seriously and spend our time knocking on doors, calling voters and putting up yard signs instead of wasting our time intimidating elected officials, which is all Republicans seem to do these days.”

Trump took advantage of 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 winning Maine, party officials say, than they are about winning one of Nebraska’s electoral votes.

Time has passed for Maine to change the law, state officials have said, with 90 days needed to enact legislation. That has drawn even more attention to Trump’s attempt to change Nebraska’s system.

Democrats dominate ad spending in the key media market of Omaha. Since Harris topped the Democratic ticket in July, her campaign has spent about $4.4 million, according to a CNN analysis of AdImpact data, while a few allied outside groups have spent just over $1 million more.

Going forward, Democrats are also poised to have a big advertising advantage. The party has about $6 million in prospective bookings in Nebraska, according to AdImpact data, with more than $1 million in airtime booked each week for the final month of the race.

According to data from AdImpact, Republicans have invested very little in the state, with about $103,000 coming from the Trump campaign.

CNN’s Alayna Treene, David Wright and Morgan Rimmer contributed to this report.