Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday called for abolishing the state’s electoral college system during a fundraiser in California, a step some Democrats have advocated in the past after election defeats.
Mr. Walz was at California Governor Gavin Newsom’s private residence in Sacramento when he spoke about the process of selecting the president of the United States.
“I think we all know that the Electoral College needs to be abolished,” he said, according to a pooled report of the event reported by Bloomberg. “We need a national popular vote, but that’s not the world we live in.”
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, called for abolishing the electoral college system. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
In 2023, the Governor of Minnesota signed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. This is an agreement in which each state allocates all electoral votes to whoever wins the popular vote for president, regardless of how the individual states vote. The deal will only go into effect if backers secure pledges from states with at least 270 electoral votes.
FOX News Digital reached out to Vice President Harris and former President Trump’s campaign.
The Electoral College is made up of a certain number of electors from each state who vote for president and vice president. In 48 states and Washington, D.C., the candidate who receives the most votes receives all electors in that state. Maine and Nebraska use a proportional system to allocate their electors.
The winner needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidential election.
The Electoral College was created by the Founding Fathers to prevent large states from overwhelming small states or wielding excessive power in presidential elections. Abolishing this system would require a major constitutional amendment.
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People arrive to vote during early voting. (Christopher Mark Yun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
In recent years, some Democratic lawmakers have called for abolishing the process in favor of a popular vote. A recent example is former President Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, when he won the popular vote but received fewer electoral votes.
In 2000, former President George W. Bush lost the popular vote but narrowly won the electoral vote. Many Republicans oppose abolishing the electoral college system, arguing that it would give states with large populations undue influence.
Others argue that presidential candidates will focus on a few states during the election period and ignore others.
In 2012, President Trump denounced the electoral system as a “disaster for democracy.” In 2018, he again voiced support for the idea, saying a popular vote would be “much easier to win.”
Tim Walz during a “60 Minutes” interview (Screenshot/CBS News)
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According to the latest Pew Research Center poll released last month, a majority of Americans (63%) support abolishing the electoral college.
