Walz advocates for eliminating Electoral College and replacing it with popular vote

Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday pushed for the elimination of the Electoral College during a campaign stop in California, and suggested replacing it with the popular vote.

Democrats have advocated for getting rid of the Electoral College in the past, including after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost the presidency to former President Donald Trump in 2016 but won the popular vote. Liberals are wary of a possible repeat in 2024 where Vice President Kamala Harris wins the popular vote but loses the Electoral College.

Walz told reporters at an event with California Gov. Gavin Newsom that he and the governor have discussed the topic, but that he remains focused on winning the vice presidency in critical swing states like Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

“I think all of us know the Electoral College needs to go,” Walz said, per Politico. “We need a national popular vote that is something. But that’s not the world we live in.”

Multiple states have passed one effort to change the presidential election process last year, in the "National Popular Vote Interstate Compact," by pledging their delegates to whatever candidate receives the most amount of votes nationwide, regardless of political party. But the effort did not secure the 270 delegates it needed to go into effect.

Harris has previously indicated that she is open to replacing the Electoral College system with a national popular vote, stating that she was "open to a discussion" on the topic during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2019.

“There’s no question that the popular vote has been diminished in terms of making the final decision about who’s the president of the United States and we need to deal with that, so I’m open to the discussion,” Harris said at the time.

Campaign officials said Walz's comments on the Electoral College is not an official campaign position.

“Governor Walz believes that every vote matters in the Electoral College and he is honored to be traveling the country and battleground states working to earn support for the Harris-Walz ticket," a campaign spokesperson told Politico. "He was commenting to a crowd of strong supporters about how the campaign is built to win 270 electoral votes, and he was thanking them for their support that is helping fund those efforts.”

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.