Gov. Tim Walz has given new impetus to restarting the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote, as Democrats are once again wary of a scenario in which Vice President Kamala Harris wins the popular vote but fails to secure the presidency to set.
“I think we all know the Electoral College has to go,” Walz said Tuesday afternoon at a campaign fundraiser with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to pool reporters in the room. “We need a national plebiscite, that’s something. But that’s not the world we live in.”
Walz said he had previously talked to Newsom about the idea. But he appeared to brush it aside when he went on to say the campaign should focus on winning swing counties from Pennsylvania to western Wisconsin and Nevada.
According to pool reports, Walz made similar comments at a previous fundraiser in Seattle. His comments are a painful reminder for Democrats of 2016, when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes but fell short of the 270 votes she needed in the Electoral College and lost to Donald Trump.
As governor, Walz signed legislation in May 2023 that effectively aimed to replace the Electoral College with a plan to increase a national popular vote. While the number of states supporting such proposals is growing, the big change would require congressional approval, which is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
Walz has been crossing the swing states for weeks. But at fundraisers in New York and now on the West Coast, he has been vocal in his years of criticism of the Electoral College. Although his grim description on Tuesday scared some campaign officials so close to the election.
“Governor Walz believes every vote matters in the Electoral College and he is honored to travel the country and battleground states to earn support for the Harris-Walz ticket. He commented to a crowd of strong supporters about how the campaign is built to win 270 electoral votes,” a Harris-Walz campaign spokesman said. “And he thanked them for their support that helps fund these efforts.”
According to the Harris-Walz campaign, ignoring the Electoral College is not a campaign position.
Kamala Harris, as a presidential candidate in 2019, said during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” that she was “open to the discussion” about abolishing the Electoral College.
“There’s no question that the people’s voices have diminished when it comes to making the ultimate decision about who becomes the president of the United States and we have to deal with that, so I’m open to the discussion,” Harris said at the time.
At a fundraiser last month at the New York home of investor and philanthropist Alex Soros and former Clinton aide Huma Abedin, Walz said, “I’m hopeful about this country, but I’m also a pragmatist and a realist.”
“That’s the electoral college system, the way it’s set up, and the states we’re competing for are incredibly close,” Walz added during the fundraiser. “The good news about this is that the vice president and I and everyone in these states are feeling the energy.”
